The main negotiating forum is the EU-MERCOSUR Bi-Regional Negotiating Committee (BNC) with its Cooperation Sub-Committee (SCC), three sub-groups of specific areas of cooperation and three technical groups (TGS) related to trade issues. Sixteen rounds of negotiations took place until October 2006. Since May 2004, negotiations have been conducted in informal technical meetings. In September 2004, both parties made available their market access offers. At a ministerial meeting held in Lisbon in October 2004, Mercosur and EU negotiators reaffirmed the priority of negotiations on the Association Agreement. In May 2005, at a meeting in Luxembourg, ministers reviewed the progress made so far and met at a ministerial meeting in September 2005 to carry out a more in-depth assessment of the progress made towards the conclusion of the agreement. MERCOSUR and the European Union have been negotiating a bi-regional free trade area since April 2000. Since 1995, relations between MERCOSUR and the EU have been guided by the Framework Cooperation Agreement between the EU and MERCOSUR, signed on 15 December 1995 and fully in force on 1 July 1999. The agreement under negotiation consists of three parts: political dialogue; Trade, economy and cooperation. The scope and objectives of the agreement were agreed at the first round of negotiations in April 2000 and then at the Madrid Summit in May 2002. On 4 May 27, 2010, the European Commission decided to relaunch trade negotiations with MERCOSUR.

Following the resumption, the first round of negotiations was held in Buenos Aires from 29 June to 2 July 2010. The second round took place in Brussels from 11 to 15 October and the third round in Brasilia from 22 November to 07 December 2010. In February 2011, MERCOSUR and the EU met in Paraguay and Uruguay to advance their ongoing trade negotiations. The following rounds of negotiations took place in Brussels from 14 to 18 March 2011 and in Asunción, Paraguay, from 2 to 6 May 2011. Delegations from MERCOSUR and the European Union held working meetings from 4 to 8 July 2011 within the framework of the XXII Biregional Negotiating Committee (TNC). The XXIII Bi-Regional Negotiating Committee (BNC) was held from 7 to 11 November 2011. The eighth round was held in the framework of the XXIV meeting of the Bi-Regional Negotiating Committee (BNC) from 12 to 16 March 2012. In the framework of the XXV Biregional Negotiating Committee, delegates from MERCOSUR and the European Union met in Braslia from 22 to 26 October 2012 for the ninth round of MERCOSUR-EU negotiations. . .

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