Brussels, 13/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Chile are confident that negotiations over an association and free trade agreement could be concluded by the EU/Latin America Summit of May 2002, said European Commission President Romano Prodi at the end of his meeting on Thursday with the Chilean President, Ricardos Lagos. "We hope for progress at the next negotiating meeting in October, so as to technically finalise a text in December and have a final agreement at the May Summit", added Ricardo Lagos.
Following the exchange of negotiating texts in July, both parties should be able to pursue talks on all subjects at the 6th negotiating round in Brussels early-October: customs duties, services, rules of origin, competition, dispute settlement, public procurement. The most difficult topics of agriculture and especially, fisheries will certainly have to be looked at in more depth in the following round, in Santiago on 10 December. In the agricultural sector, the problems essentially concern European agricultural export subsidies, as well as opening up the European wine sector. In the context of fisheries, Chile is proving reluctant to the EU's request wanting to link the opening up of its market to access to Chilean territorial waters.
The attacks that struck the United States were naturally broached in talks between President Lagos, President Prodi and the High Representative for Cfsp Javier Solana. It is a question of "the combat of all countries that believe in democracy and justice, against terrorism (….) The United States must feel supported by the rest of the world", declared President Lagos, adding, as President of the Rio Group, that the countries of Latin America were co-ordinating in view of the next UN General Assembly.