In 2004, Uruguay and Mexico deepened a 1999 agreement that resulted in Uruguay`s first comprehensive trade agreement with a non-MERCOSUR country. In April 2019, Uruguay and Chile ratified a free trade agreement extended to an existing agreement. In December 2000, the founding countries of MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) signed a framework agreement establishing a free trade area between Mercosur and the Southern African Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland). A preferential trade agreement came into force in 2016. Sometimes he seemed doomed to fail. But in the end, the Uruguay Round led the largest reform of the global trading system since the creation of the GATT at the end of World War II. And yet, despite its turbulent progress, Uruguay`s cycle has achieved some early results. In just two years, participants agreed on a package of import duty reductions on tropical products, mainly exported by developing countries. They had also revised the dispute resolution rules, with some measures implemented on the ground. And they called for regular reports on the trade policy of GATT members, a measure considered important to make trade rules transparent globally. ALADI is a trade association based in Montevideo, which includes ten South American countries as well as Cuba, Mexico and Panama. Uruguay has concluded numerous bilateral trade agreements of varying scope with ALADI partners. Under alADI`s economic agreements, Uruguayans enjoy special preferential access to trade with Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
ALADI`s General Regional Tariff Preference Mechanism (PAR) applies to goods traded between all Member States and reduces the percentage of applicable tariffs. The follow-up to this agreement includes regular meetings of the EU-Uruguay Joint Commission, including on trade issues. This committee normally meets every two years, the last time in March 2017. The Joint Commission is therefore expected to meet again in 2019. The round was due to end in December 1990, but the United States and the EU were divided on agricultural trade reform and decided to extend the talks. [6] Finally, in November 1992, the United States and the EU settled most of their differences in an agreement known as the Blair House, and on 15 April 1994, the agreement was signed by ministers from most of the 123 participating governments at a meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. [7] The agreement created the World Trade Organization, which came into force on January 1, 1995 to replace the GATT system. [2] It is widely regarded as the most profound institutional reform of the global trading system since the creation of the GATT. [8] Uruguay has signed agreements with Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Mexico, Malta, Liechtenstein, India, Korea, Finland, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary and Argentina.