Argentina–European Union relations

EU-Argentine relations

European Union

Argentina

Agreements

Argentina was the first Latin American country to formalize relations with the EU under a 3rd generation cooperation agreement. The Framework Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement between the EU and Argentina entered into force in 1990 and includes two recurrent principles of their cooperation: the strengthening of democracy and human rights, as well as regional integration. An EU-Argentina Joint Commission has also been established. A number of sectoral agreements were established in the 1990s. The main focuses of cooperation are education and training; economic competitiveness; capacity‑building in the public and academic sectors.[1]

Argentina is part of the EU's negotiating with the regional bloc Mercosur for a free trade agreement which will form the back bone of EU-Latin American relations.[2] However, during the 200s and early 2010s the Kirchner administration developed a protectionist policy and stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement. Mauricio Macri restarted the process in his first months as president.

In 2016, the French government has asked to delay negotiations for a free trade agreement to carry an impact study, which was supported by several European countries. Others like Spain have asked for immediate negotiations.

Trade

The EU is Argentina's second largest export market (after Brazil). Argentina's exports to the EU are mainly agricultural and other primary goods. The EU exports less goods to Argentina in return (giving the EU a deficit of €3.4 billion) but has a surplus in services of €0.4 billion. The EU is also Argentina's biggest foreign investor, accounting for half of Argentina's foreign direct investment (FDI).[2]

EU – Argentina trade in 2008[2]
Direction of trade Goods Services Investment flow Investment stocks
EU to Argentina €4.8 billion €2.4 billion €4.4 billion €44.1 billion
Argentina to EU €8.2 billion €2.0 billion €0.3 billion €1.7 billion

References

  1. Republic of Argentina, European External Action Service
  2. 1 2 3 Bilateral relations Argentina, European Commission

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.