Brussels / Ottawa, 20/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - Tuesday's summit between the European Union and Canada confirmed the sound health of this transatlantic relationship "increasingly essential" and close. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and the French Head of State Jacques Chirac fired the starting pistol for joint initiatives in different major economic, social and political sectors: higher education and training, justice, defence, aid to development, satellite navigation technology. A series of joint declarations sealed this strengthening of the partnership, considered in both Ottawa and Brussels as "one of the most solid in the industrialised world". The meeting was dominated by talks on security and defence, and confirmed that "disputes are microscopic" in the trade sector.
Europeans and Canadians agreed to step up relations in the following fields:
1. Higher education and training. The bilateral agreement establishing a cooperation programme intended to facilitate the transatlantic travel of students, to tighten partnerships between institutions and encourage the transfer of knowledge and skills was renewed.
2. Justice and home affairs. Through a joint declaration, the two parties undertook to enhance their collaboration to combat more effectively illegal drug trafficking, cyber-crime, corruption, terrorism, trafficking in human beings and trafficking in migrants, as well as racism and xenophobia.
3. Aid to development. A joint declaration defines the basic fields for collaboration, which are aid effectiveness, infectious diseases, combating tobacco addiction and technical assistance for third world countries regarding health, aid effectiveness and technical assistance.
4. Satellite navigation - Galileo. The EU and Canada formally undertook to examine, early next year, the extent of an agreement that would encapsulate their future cooperation in that field.
5. Trade. It was confirmed that "the two parties agree to consider that a new round of trade negotiations in the framework of the WTO is necessary". The Union and Canada agree on the "need to show "flexibility and pragmatism (…) so that their joint efforts lead to a consensus on an agenda that could garner the support of all members of the WTO".
The EU and Canada agreed to step-up cooperation in the cultural field "on a pragmatic basis", promising one another to explore in more depth "whether or not to organise, as initial action, a joint seminar of experts on the question of cultural diversity". Discussions on wine are not over but their recent intensification allows the partners to "hope for progress".
The participants in the Summit adopted a joint statement on security and defence, notably observing that European and Canadian positions were very close on missile defence. EUROPE will return in detail to this in tomorrow's bulletin.