WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Brazil's undersecretary for economic and external trade matters said Monday all candidates in the country's Oct. 6 presidential election support the current trade policy of "expanding exports and promoting the substitution of imports."
But Clodoaldo Hugueney also stressed that Brazil would move decidedly to conclude free-trade agreements with Mexico and, within the Common Market of South (Mercosur) trade bloc, work toward opening trade between Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations.
Speaking at the 2002 Brazil Economic Conference, he also noted that trade agreements with India and Thailand are also "extremely important." The same goes for fully opening markets in this hemisphere by 2005 through the Free Trade Area of the Americas forum, he said.
FTAA negotiations are on schedule, Hugueney noted.
He said that he thought "Brazil's next government will be active in negotiating" the terms of the FTAA, as well as those of the Doha round of the World Trade Organization and other trade forums, and stressed that trade in agricultural products will be "central for Brazil in all trade negotiations."
"Agriculture is central for a positive result in all these negotiations," he reiterated.
-By Charles Roth, Dow Jones Newswires
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.