Italian Deputy PM pledges to help pull through EU-Mercosur FTA
MercoPress | 10 October 2024
Italian Deputy PM pledges to help pull through EU-Mercosur FTA
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and top diplomat Antonio Tajani told a group of Brazilian businesspeople in Sao Paulo Wednesday that his country was facing “a great opportunity” to strengthen its economic and commercial presence in Latin America, particularly through the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement that is still pending ratification.
“We are working to accelerate the process and reach a positive conclusion,” Tajani stressed. “We want to be your spokespersons and act as intermediaries between the European institutions and the negotiations with Brazil,” he added.
“It would be a serious mistake not to understand the message that is being given to us,” Tajani told an Italy-Brazil business forum attended by dignitaries from over 300 companies from both countries, according to ANSA.
Tajani made those remarks given Brazil’s Presidential Chief of Staff Rui Costa Dos Santos’ invitation to Italian companies to increase their already strong presence in the South American country’s market.
“The Brazilian government told us ’Look, we are investing, come and be protagonists of what we will do’ and we must seize this opportunity, we must not leave it in the hands of others,” said Tajani regarding President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s announcement that € 300 billion would be allocated to sustainable transportation, digital inclusion, energy security, education, science, health, and sanitation. “We will make our diplomatic offices become the key instrument to increasingly anchor our business presence,” he added while underlining the development of new “financial initiatives.” He also pointed out that “exports represent 40% of our GDP, and even in Latin America the Italian system must be strengthened.”
“Italy and Brazil will cooperate in every way because it is in the interest of our people. Governments pass, but the interests of states remain,” Tajani said after meeting with Costa. “Italy is willing to join efforts to achieve objectives that will allow both Brazil and Italy to grow.”
“We are here with the great public entities that support internationalization and exports, and that are financial instruments of guarantee and support for all Italian companies in the world,” he added.
