Brussels, 19/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - The bilateral trade agreement signed between Peru and the European Union is a “win-win” agreement on the political, commercial and social levels, said Peruvian President Alan García on Wednesday 19 May, after the EU-Andean Community Summit. He said that the Peruvian fisheries and mining sectors would be the first to benefit from the opening of markets. Colombia, too, signed a trade agreement with the EU, the other two countries of the Andean Community - Bolivia and Ecuador - having withdrawn from talks. On the environment, García praised the Ecuadorian “Yasuní” initiative, which has suspended oil extraction in the natural park which bears the same name, in exchange for international funding. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy welcomed the strengthening of the political dialogue on drugs. Noting that his country was in the process of “regularising”, or granting an amnesty to, 750,000 immigrants, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero spoke of programmes put in place to help immigrants affected by the economic crisis (unemployment aid, mortgage payment assistance, help to return home).
Central America. Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli took a gamble on the advantages of the cooperation and association agreement between the EU and Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama) would bring an increase in Central American and European exports of 2,600 and 2,400 million respectively, as announced by Zapatero on Wednesday (ses EUROPE 10141). We are “the first border for the drugs that are consumed in Europe,” he added, calling for more cooperation and the transfer of technology between the EU and Central America to tackle this evil. He invited Europeans to visit the region, using the air links that will open up thanks to the agreement. Van Rompuy welcomed the signing of the first “region to region” association agreement. The agreement would enhance “regional integration”, a concept dear to the EU, said European Comission President José Manuel Durão Barroso. (M.B./transl.rt)