António Costa relies on Spanish EU presidency to conclude agreement with Mercosur

Lisbon (Portugal), Feb 8 (EFE) - (Camera: Paula Fernández) Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa was confident Wednesday that the Spanish presidency of the European Union, in the second half of the year, will allow progress in the signing of the trade agreement with Mercosur.



SOUNDBITES OF PORTUGUESE PRIME MINISTER ANTÓNIO COSTA, IN HIS CLOSING SPEECH AT THE LA TOJA FORUM.

FOOTAGE OF THE EVENT.

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COSTA TRANSLATIONS:

1.- "Here I have great hope and great confidence that the Spanish presidency in the second half of this year will give a strong impetus so that once and for all we can conclude the agreement with Mercosur. The window of opportunity is very narrow. Lula's government has just been elected, in the first visit he made to Portugal he clearly stated that Brazil's will is to close the Mercosur agreement. President Alberto Fernandez says that it is time for us to close the Mercosur agreement. And therefore it is time for Europe to understand that there is not a kilo of fillets produced in Europe that justifies that we keep delaying the conclusion of the agreement with Mercosur. It is the agreement with the largest economic dimension that can exist and the one that can contribute the most to create a great transatlantic alliance between Europe and Latin America in the future".

It is a great opportunity for cross-border cooperation, the fact that Portugal and Spain together have the largest reserves of a natural resource that is fundamental for electric mobility, I do not know if it will be in the future but at least for the next few years, which is lithium. And the largest reserves exist on both sides of the border and close to the border. Rather than competing so that each one has its own battery factory and refinery, we should have the capacity to jointly develop a strategy to jointly value a resource that, being the largest European reserve, is insufficient and will always imply importing more lithium to create a sustainable battery production industry, but where we have all the advantage of working together".