Brussels, 05/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - On behalf of the EU, the French Presidency made the following declaration: "The EU welcomes the initiative of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in organising a Summit of South American Heads of State in Brasilia on 31 August and 1 September 2000. It fully supports that initiative which, by encouraging dialogue within the sub-continent, will contribute to furthering the process of integration and will bolster regional stability. The EU considers that South America is thereby contributing to strengthening the international equilibrium and to the realisation of the multipolar world called for by the participants in the Rio de Janeiro Summit of 29 and 30 June 1999.
The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the EU, the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the EEA align themselves with this declaration."