Brussels, 17/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - Prior to the EU-Latin America Summit on Tuesday 18 May (see related article), the Spanish Presidency has held two bilateral summits, one with Chile and the other with Mexico, two countries which have already signed strategic association agreements with the EU, which have doubled bilateral trade.
Chile. “We have set two major challenges. Firstly, to rebuild Chile and restore all that the earthquake destroyed. Secondly, within 10 years, to turn Chile into a country which can eradicate under-development and poverty,” said the President of the Republic of Chile Sebastián Piñera Echenique on Monday 17 May. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso undertook to ensure that Chilean requests from the infrastructure funding facility, to be put in place at the EU-Latin America Summit, would be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said he was satisfied that the EU-Chile association agreement signed in 2002 had borne fruit in the trade and political areas. He expressed the EU's support for Chile as it undertakes the Presidency of the Rio Group and of the Latin American and Caribbean block of countries. Chile, which has been a member of the OECD since January 2010, repeated that it was keen on negotiations on an air agreement with the EU.
Mexico. The 5th EU-Mexico Summit held at Comillas, near Santander, on Sunday 16 May saw the launch of a joint action plan in areas of common interest, such as tackling organised crime and climate change, migration and international financial reform. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, hosting the Summit said that Mexico conducted itself in an “exemplary” fashion in tackling terrorism. He spoke of the role bodies such as Europol and FRONTEX can play in addressing the “major challenge” for Latin America that is organised crime. The recent kidnapping of former candidate for the Presidency of Mexico Diego Fernández Cevallos illustrated the difficulties faced by the country in this area.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojusa highlighted the importance of cooperation on climate change between his country and the EU. In this International Year of Biodiversity, Mexico will seek, in December, to work for a legally binding “ambitious,, clear and exhaustive” agreement at the next global climate conference (COP16). European Council President Herman Van Rompuy welcomed the “increasingly important role” of Mexico on the international stage, particularly in the G20, which it will chair in 2012. (M.B./transl.rt)