Brussels, 17/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - Chile hopes to conclude negotiations over an association and trade liberalisation agreement with the European Union before the EU/Latin American Summit of June 2002, Chile's negotiator, Osvaldo Rosales, confirmed at the end of the third round of negotiations, held in Santiago this week. European negotiator Francisco da Camara was, for his part, more cautious, declaring before the press that it was "difficult to set a date. Both sides have the political will to complete negotiations rapidly (…), but the outcome of negotiations also depends on external factors, like what is happening in negotiations over a free-trade area of the Americas and other multilateral negotiations". As in Mercosur's case, the Commission's negotiating brief provides for negotiations with Chile not being concluded before the end of the new round of negotiations within the World Trade Organisation. The deadlock of Seattle could, however, lead the EU to review its agenda, the Latin Americans hope.
The third round allowed for progress in different sectors (political, cooperaion, trade) by "creating the conditions to draw up a programme and agenda reflecting the political will of both parties", says the final joint press release. Both parties have begun to exchange draft texts that will receive a more in-depth analysis in the fourth round, in Brussels in March.
Regarding politics, the parties submitted draft texts defining the institutional structure of their relationship, to be deepened in March. In the cooperation sector, the parties sketched out an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation, as well as in the sectors of education, training and culture. As for trade, they set out their specific objectives and the terms of the negotiations, says the press release.
In 1999, the EU exported $4.1 billion worth of goods to Chile, and had a 21% share of the Chilean import market. For its part, Chile exported $2.8 billion worth of goods to the EU, representing 28% of the country's exports. The United Kingdom, Italy and Germany are the main European importers of Chilean products, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are the main European exporters to Chile. Chile mainly exports mining products (41.3% of its exports) and agricultural and fisheries products (11.4%).