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Lebanon, Tunisia sign MoUs on trade with Latin America

Lebanon, Tunisia sign MoUs on trade with Latin America
Lebanon has signed a free-trade agreement with the Mercosur countries of Latin America in Parana, Argentina during the 47th ministerial meeting for the group, in addition to associate member states like Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as two observer states, Mexico and New Zealand, reported The Daily Star.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has signed the agreement, reflecting the importance to maintain good relations with the Mercosur.

Noteworthy, Tunisia has also signed a similar MoU with Mercosur during the ministerial meeting.

In addition, such memorandums of understanding (MoUs) facilitate trade between each of Lebanon and Tunisia, and the sub-regional bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Lebanese Minister noted that “when the free-trade agreement is between the small Lebanon with a Gross Domestic Product of $40 billion, and the Mercusor countries in Latin America, which is the world’s 5th largest economic bloc with an total GDP of $5.4 trillion, this has a lot of significance for Lebanon.”

Bassil added that the size of trade between Lebanon and Latin America, which has about 12 million Lebanese and their descendants, has not exceeded $14 million per year during the last five years. Moreover, he said that such number indicated that Lebanon used to orient only one percent of its exports to Latin America.

Photo Credit: Arabianeye-Reuters