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The EU aims to sign trade deals with Australia and Kenya

2023-05-26 09:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
The EU aims to sign trade deals with Australia and Kenya
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The European Commission aims to complete negotiations on free trade deals with Australia and Kenya in the next two months, as the war in Ukraine and a desire to reduce dependence on China fuel an EU push for partnerships.

European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Thursday (May 25th) that the EU executive will soon submit for approval a deal reached with Chile that could boost EU access to lithium and copper.

"We want to complete negotiations with Australia and Kenya by the summer," Dombrovskis told a news conference after a meeting of trade ministers in Brussels, adding that he would meet his Australian counterpart next month.

EU institutions usually take a summer break in August.

Johan Forssell, the trade minister of Sweden, which holds the EU's next six-month presidency, said there was very strong support among ministers for an Australia deal.

Olivier Becht, France's trade minister, who has been more reluctant to support trade deals over concerns about its agriculture, said his country viewed Australia's potential deal favorably.

The same cannot be said for an agreement reached with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in 2019, which has been put on hold due to EU concerns about deforestation. France in particular has expressed its opposition.

The European Commission has proposed attaching an annex to the agreement to show commitments on deforestation and other areas of sustainability.

"At this stage, we have not received Mercosur's counter-proposals. They are working on it. So we are expecting them soon," Dombrovskis said, adding that he thinks an EU-Latin America/Caribbean summit in July could provide an additional impetus to the negotiations./ CNA.al





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