JETCO Meeting Signals Developing UK-Brazil Trade Relationship

The 11th meeting of the UK-Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) took place on November 11, 2020. It was the first meeting between the current Brazilian and UK governments, and was co-chaired by Roberto Fendt, Brazil’s Special Secretary for Foreign Trade and International Affairs, and Liz Truss, the UK's Secretary of State for International Trade.

In a joint statement published yesterday, November 25, a range of discussion points were announced which arose during the meeting, including:

• - Both sides "reiterated their commitment to strengthening bilateral commercial ties and to cooperating to promote bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries."

• - Both sides agreed to continue work on market access, and "intensify preparations for a future Free Trade Agreement, on which they will reconvene to check progress in six months’ time."

• - Both the UK and Brazil agreed to further discuss how best to avoid Double Taxation in order to boost cross-border trade and investment.

• - Both parties "noted the opportunities brought by an intensified exchange of views on market access, services, intellectual property, trade facilitation and business environment for increasing bilateral cooperation, trade and investments flows".

• - Both sides agreed to "agreed to pursue their trade relationship in a way that contributes to sustainable development and builds on their multilateral commitments, and reaffirmed their commitment to further support the transition to more sustainable sources of energy and supply chains, noting the crucial importance of combating illegal deforestation".

• - Both the UK and Brazil agreed to remain committed to keeping supply chains between the two countries open and function, particularly amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

For the full announcement and details of other topics which were discussed, go to www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-on-the-uk-brazil-jetco.

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