Brussels, 17/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - As we previously indicated (see EUROPE of 13 April, p.10) the European Commissioner Chris Patten will begin, this Wednesday, a five day visit to Australia during which will take place the 17th joint ministerial meeting, among other events to which the head of Union external relations is invited to take part. This visit is part of the plan to reinforce bilateral relations and collaboration in a few key areas: - consumer protection, information society and possibly also within the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The EU/Australia ministerial, which is part of the round of regular meetings instituted by the 1997 joint declaration, will take place on 20 April in Melbourne, in the presence of the head of Australian diplomacy, Alexander Downer. The partners will make an assessment of the bilateral relationship, including in terms of education, scientific and technological cooperation, as well as immigration and asylum. They will not doubt continue the talks under way over a certain number of initiatives, notably the agreement relating to the protection of consumers and the joint statements on cooperation in the field of the information economy. Development assistance, notably in the Asia-Pacific region, will be one of the predominant themes of this session, whose agenda obviously also includes an overview of the current trade situation. The Union, which ceaselessly continues its charm offensive throughout the world in view of the launching of a new round of multilateral negotiations next autumn, would like to work in this direction with Australia, which is one of the leaders in the Cairns group and which it considers - dixit the European Commission spokesperson - as a key partner in the region to achieve this common objective. Current regional and bilateral affairs will also be on the menu of the trade talks. The third area of talks, covers the recent developments within the Union, in particular the results of the Stockholm Summit, European economic growth and the up-coming enlargement.