Brussels, 26/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, will visit Mexico from the 29th to 30th April. During the visit, Mr Lamy will meet with President Vicente Fox, Trade Minister Derbez, and Foreign Minister Castañeda. He will also meet with NGOs and inaugurate the Institute for European Integration Studies (IEIE) at the prestigious ITAM University, a project co-financed by the European Union to the tune of €975,000 and created in collaboration with the European College, Bruges and the Universidad Autónomo de Barcelona. The Institute will train experts on European issues. Mr Lamy's visit will also provide an opportunity to discuss preparations for the next WTO Ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in Mexico in 2003. Mr Lamy explained to a group of journalists that the objective was to assess the rhythm of negotiations in the different sectors.
A few weeks away from the EU/Latin America/Caribbean Summit (17-18 May in Madrid) and the Ministerial level EU/Mexico Council (13 May Madrid), Mr Lamy is intending to review the implementation of the EU/Mexico Association and Free Trade Agreement in force since July 2000. The Commissioner pointed out that the "figures were very good" and recalled that since the agreement entered into force EU exports to Mexico had increased by 33M and Mexican exports to the EU by almost 50%.
Mr Lamy is expected to mention the re-launching of negotiations on areas that were still pending when the agreement was concluded: tuna, grain, milk products and bananas. The Commission recently presented the Council with a proposal for a mandate that would speed up the dismantling of custom duties in two essential sectors of trade between the two partners: car imports to Europe (due to be liberalised in 2003) and imports of chemical and pharmaceutical products to Mexico (due to be liberalised in 2005: see EUROPE 15 March page 8).