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).
Both the EU and Brazil also highlighted plans to create a technical working group on audits and inspections, with the aim of making these controls work more smoothly and predictably. Papers released after the meeting on 24 February 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 EU Delegation to Brazil, told GlobalMeatNews.com. She said 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. "This has relevance for several product groups of animal origin," she noted.
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was at the meeting and said later 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 21 March 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 €570m in 2012 to €595m 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.