Hello and welcome to ESIPS Global Economy podcast. My name is Frederick

Keriksen and today I am very pleased to welcome Juergen Wabo to talk about international trade, Europe and the world.

That's a big topic, I know. But Juergen sits in the European Parliament's International Trade Committee

and, of course, works on all these issues. And for the last five years, he's been the leading

champion of a Europe that is open to trade and that uses the opportunities we have of

deepening our commercial relations with countries that are growing and that wishes well.

Before being elected to the European Parliament in 2019, Juergen was a member of the Swedish

Parliament. He has held many political offices during his career. And before going into

politics,

Juergen was a businessman, and throughout his time in Brussels, he has been a champion as well

of small businesses and their growth.

Earlier this autumn, he was elected president of SME Europe, an organization that works

to increase the influence of small businesses in European

policy. Juergen, welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much, Frederick. So we've had some

interesting developments happening in the beginning of December, and I would say even positive

developments, because the EU have now finalized a free

trade agreement with Mercosur. This has been an agreement that has been negotiated for quite

some time, I think over two decades, but now at least there is an agreement that we are going

to start a debate again. You've been a strong

voice for this agreement in Parliament. I wonder if we can start here. Why do you think this

is an important agreement? Well, of several reasons. And first of all, I'd like to say

that I'm really happy that we are at this stage, finally,

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