Rio, 4/6/2004 (Agência Brasil) - Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, says he believes the Mercosur-European Union agreement could be ready in two months time, that is, at the Guadalajara, Mexico meeting scheduled for the end of May, beginning of June. If that happens, says Amorim, a final agreement could be signed by October.

Meanwhile, today a technical group at the Ministry of Development will examine trade offers in manufactured goods, services and investments that will be presented by Mercosur to the European Union by April 15. It is believed that in services Mercosur is willing to make attractive offers in the financial and telecommunications sectors.

Amorim explains that this is an important but not definitive stage in the negotiations as each side can still impose restrictions. But the idea, he says, is to get the negotiations moving ahead and achieve substantial progress. (Translator: Allen Bennett)