Strasbourg, 08/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European commissioner for enterprise and industry, Antonio Tajani, is visiting Latin America from Thursday 9 to Monday 13 June, where he will sign some 20 cooperation agreements on behalf of the European Union in the fields of industry, tourism and policies in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises. “We will sign between 15 and 18 cooperation agreements” with Chile, Argentina and Brazil, he told a small group of journalists on Wednesday 8 June.
In Chile, together with the minister for mining, Pablo Wagner, the commissioner will initial an agreement launching high-level political dialogue in the field of raw materials. Under a provisional version of the agreement, Europeans and Chileans will recognise the importance of the security of supply, highlighting the “major risks” for their economies of any “interruption of flows” in this area. Political dialogue on raw materials comes in the framework of the EU-Chile association agreement of 2002. Identical discussions have been launched with Argentina, as Tajani has not ruled out the possibility of signing a similar agreement during the course of his visit. In Brussels on Tuesday 14 June, he will attend a summit on raw materials, which will also be attended by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and a number of European commissioners. Transparency on the physical and financial markets for raw materials is one of the priorities of the French presidency of the G20.
Tourism. Tajani will promote the initiative “50,000 tourists”, a scheme to attract 50,000 Chilean, Brazilian and Argentinian tourists to Europe in the low season and, in return, to promote European travel to Latin America (EUROPE 10392). “My aim is to make Europe the number one tourist destination in the world”, he said. The Commission will contribute €250,000 to promoting the initiative via a dedicated website. On the European side, five countries (Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania and Poland) will take part, with Ireland considering joining. Spain will focus on tourism for older people, France will concentrate on gastronomic and religious tourism, Italy will promote new air links with Brazil. European airlines (Alitalia, Air France, BA, Iberia and Lufthansa) have expressed an interest, as have several tour operators.
The other agreement will relate to space policy. The Commission notes that there is a good deal of interest on the part of its Latin American partners in the Galileo satellite navigation system. In order to make it easier for SMEs to access the European and Latin American markets, agreements will also be signed with the aim of promoting the recognition of technical standards as a means of overcoming non-tariff barriers. (M.B./transl.fl)