Brussels, 07/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - This week the EU and the Andean community (Bolivia, Colombia, Equator, Peru, Venezuela) began the first round of negotiations for a new cooperation agreement and political dialogue. At the launch of the session on Tuesday, Commissioner Chris Patten declared, "I hope we can conclude the negotiations that we are opening here today by the end of the year". A new round should take place in the autumn in Ecuador. The decision to negotiate this agreement was taken by Heads of State and Government at the Madrid European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Summit in 2002 and should enlarge the agreement that has been in force since 1993 between the EU and the Andean Community. It includes themes such as security, regional development and security, conflict prevention, civil rights and democracy, good governance, terrorism, immigration and drugs. The new agreement should integrate the "political dialogue" defined in 1996 by the two parties.
The Andean countries benefit from a system of overall preferences, particularly in the promotion of products exported by the Andean community as alternatives to drug production. These countries were originally seeking a trade agreement that gave more legal security to their products. The EU refused, arguing that the GSP already granted free access to the European market for major Andean exports.
In a press statement, the European Commission stressed that the European Union was the leading donor to region with EU aid worth about € 810 million in 2001. The European Commission itself has granted development cooperation aid to the region for over ten years Community, averaging some €130 million.