South-South pact to reduce tariffs by 20%

Tariffs are expected to drop by 20% on “at least” 70% of products exported and subject to duty between countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The signatories, representing 1.9 billion people – or almost a third of the total population of the planet – are Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (members of the Common Market of the South), as well as Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Korea. The commitment was made in December at the Sao Paolo round of the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) agreement talks. There are 43 parties to the GSTP.