Brussels, 28/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 28 July the European Commission decided to allocated €10 mio to the Andean Community of Nations (CAN: Bolivia, Colombia, Equator and Peru) which aim at improving regional economic integration and strengthening the fight against illicit drugs in Latin America. In a press release, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, emphasised: "Strong regional ties increase the weight of a region on the world stage and bring clear advantages to the citizens of that region. It is therefore in our interest to encourage and support this process with concrete projects”. €50 mio is forecast as part of the EU-CAN strategy until 2013 for projects that increase regional cohesion of the Andean Community. This strategy has been allocated €713 million for 2007-13 (EUROPE 9412).
INTER-CAN, the first project co-funded by the EU, aims at improving regional cooperation in the area of intra-regional trade by allowing for an integrated control of goods and services at the borders. This can be achieved by, for instance, working on better links between administrations through electronic data exchange networks and through improved customs inspection laboratories. The European Commission contributes €6.5 mio to this project. The other EU-supported project, PRADI-CAN is the first comprehensive cooperation project on drugs. This project has a total budget of €4 mio, of which €3.25 mio are financed by the European Commission. It aims to set up a network between national observatories on drug trafficking. Other elements will aim at developing regional activities on control of precursors in the CAN and improving the capacity of drug-related analysis of the countries of the Andean Community. (M.B./trans/rh)