India-MERCOSUR FTA ready for voting in Brazil

New Delhi, Feb 19 (UNI) The India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), an agreement between India and the Latin American trading bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, is ready to be voted by a Plenary Session of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and will be taken up for voting shortly.

This was stated to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee by President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, Arlindo Chinaglia, during their meeting in Brasilia, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said here today.

Mr Mukherjee, who is on a week-long visit to Brazil and South Africa from February 16 to 22, held meetings with Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Mr Chinaglia on the first leg of his visit to that country from February 16 to 18.

MERCOSUR, which also has Chile and Bolivia as its associate members, is the fourth largest integrated market after the European Union (EU), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and ASEAN.

A Framework Agreement between India and MERCOSUR was signed on June 17, 2003 at Asuncion, Paraguay. As a follow up to the Framework Agreement, a PTA was signed in New Delhi on January 25, 2004.

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