Brazil and Colombia sign memorandum of understanding to increase bilateral trade

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The 6th Meeting of the Brazil-Colombia Trade Monitoring Commission, which led to the new agreement, was held online on Friday, October 8. The meeting was chaired by the Ministry of Economy’s Secretary of Foreign Trade Lucas Ferraz and by Colombia’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Andrés Cárdenas.

The MOU establishes the same conditions as the Economic Complementation Agreement 72, signed between MERCOSUR and Colombia in December 2017, in the parts that concern goods from free trade zones and special customs areas.

The two countries discussed several measures to facilitate mutual trade, such as the recognition and exchange of digital certificates of origin, and an agreement to prevent double taxation in the two countries.

Quessions also addressed at the meeting were the deepening of bilateral access conditions for the automotive, textile, plastics, and agricultural sectors; negotiations on government procurement (purchases made by the governments of the two countries); and measures to increase the flow of investments.