March 4, 2014
EU, Brazil strengthen cooperation on meat and livestock health control
After a summit meeting in Brussels, EU and Brazil agreed to intensify their cooperation over health controls in their trade in meat and livestock.
Both sides said they would boost long-standing bilateral relations and raise the level of communication, cooperation and engagement to solve sanitary and phytosanitary issues in line with the principles, regulations, rights and obligations" set out by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Plans to create a technical working group on audits and inspections were also highlighted by both the EU and Brazil, with the aim of making these controls work more smoothly and predictably. Papers released after the meeting on February 24 said there had been progress in implementing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on animal welfare signed in 2013.
"A technical working group will facilitate, in the longer term, exports of animal origin between the two trading blocs, as the tentative aim is to address both quantitative and qualitative inspections issues," Concha Fernandez de la Puente, spokesperson for the EUDelegation to Brazil, said. She added the MOU was currently being implemented "with speed" by both parties, who were working on regulatory and operational reforms. The Brazilian government was involving the private sector in this work, she said.
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was at the meeting said that a free trade deal between the EU and South America trade bloc Mercosur- of which Brazil is a key member- was "close to completion". Negotiations have continued for almost 14 years, and should, she predicted, "move quickly" after a scheduled high-level technical meeting on March 21 between EU and South American representatives.
Once concluded, a free trade agreement would reduce Customs duties for beef. However, John Clancy, trade spokesperson for the European Commission, said "beef remains highly sensitive for the EU and will not be fully liberalised, but a concession would be negotiated in the form of a tariff quota".
Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union, said the EU industry would carefully assess the outcome of the EU-Mercosur talks in March. According to European Commission data, in 2013 alone, the EU imported 146,000 tonnes of beef and beef products from Brazil, 15% more than in 2012. The value of imports increased less- only 4%, from €570 million (US$785 million) in 2012 to €595 million (US$819 million) in 2013. These figures mark a partial recovery in trade after a period of decrease in imports during the Eurozone debt crisis and a period of higher bovine meat prices.