Luxembourg, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The representatives of EU Member States, Romania and Bulgaria took part in the 20th ministerial meeting of the EU-Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) held on Thursday in Luxembourg in the context of the 12th EU-Rio Group ministerial meeting which focused on the state of relations between the EU and the Andean Community, as well as on progress made in regional integration and the assessment of the political situation in the various Andean countries.
After the meeting, the Luxembourg foreign minister and president-in-office of the EU Council, Jean Asselborn, who co-chaired the meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart, Ali Rodriguez Araque, recalled when speaking to the press that the Andean Community and the EU have had “very intense relations” since the cooperation agreement was signed in 1983 and since the institutionalisation in 1996 of political dialogue between the two parties. During the meeting, the EU confirmed the importance of sound structures and institutions allowing effective cooperation to be promoted between the two regions. Jean Asselborn and the European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, welcomed the “progress made in regional integration” of the Andean Community and assured these countries of the EU's full support in this process. Mr Asselborn recalled that a key stage in bilateral relations had been crossed with the signing in Rome, in December 2003, of a political dialogue and cooperation agreement.
Concerning the process of Andean integration, discussions covered the initiatives aimed at creating an area of Andean peace and combating poverty and exclusion. “One issue cropped up often: drugs and drug production in this country”, Mr Asselborn told the press. He went on to add: “We are aware in Europe that these countries must be given a chance to develop alternatives given this problem, and propose measures for financing these alternatives”. One of these alternatives is above all the proposal of a new generalised system of preferences (GSP+), which is of great interest to the Andean Community, and the “Luxembourg presidency intends to do everything possible to conclude this by the end of June”, Mr Asselborn assured. “We do indeed pay special attention to the complex problem of drugs concerning not only the producer countries, like those of the Andean Community, but also the consumer countries, like those of the Union”, Mr Rodriguez Araque proclaimed. “We are making an effort to retrain our farmers, who are doubly penalised by the violence to which they fall victim and the displacement of populations”, the Venezuelan minister stressed.
Europeans and South Americans also tackled the question of migration, a problem that faces the Andean countries, especially the right of workers and families that are forced to emigrate sometimes for political reasons, but more often than not for economic and social reasons, Mr Rodriguez Araque noted. This burning issue promoted Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner to again insist upon the question of social cohesion, the watchword used by the External Relations Commissioner at every meeting of this 12th ministerial conference of the EU-Rio Group. Ms Ferrero-Waldenr considers there is no doubt that more successful regional integration would provide the best answer to the problems encountered by the Andean countries regarding social cohesion and the fight against drugs.
The European Commissioner also recalled that the secretary general of the Andean Community, Allan Wagner, was in Brussels on 11 May to begin the mutual assessment exercise that “should allow us to open negotiations, by the end of this year, for an association agreement between our two regions”. Mr Rodriguez assured that, within the Andean Community, the governments were making an intense effort to set up the institutions needed for concluding such an agreement.