MONTEVIDEO, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and European Union (EU) need to compromise if they want to reach a trade agreement, Uruguayan Foreign Affairs Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said on Tuesday.
"In a trade negotiation, you have to give and receive. In no negotiation do you just receive and give nothing," Nin said in an interview with state-run Uruguayan radio network RNU.
The talks have dragged on for decades, with the two blocs initially starting negotiations in the 1990s.
Nin said he was optimistic a deal could be reached as Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are disposed to making a deal.
"The disposition of the (Mercosur) presidents is to reach an agreement," he said, however "the window of opportunity" will close by "the end of the year."
On Sept. 25, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York, Mercosur leaders agreed on the need to reach a trade accord with the European bloc.
