Prime Minister of Holland points out need to
design joint strategies to protect the planet

Lima, May 16, 2008.- The Prime Minister of Holland, Jan Peter Balkenende, expressed his conviction that joint strategies must be worked out to protect the planet, obtain sustainability and reach the millennium targets. 

“This is a topic that concerns all of us.  Everyone in the world is responsible for it,” he declared, after stressing the commitment of the Andean Community General Secretariat to environmental issues and matters of climate change.    

The Dutch Prime Minister visited the CAN General Secretariat yesterday and was received in an official ceremony, during which he was awarded an insignia of the CAN and was declared an “Honorary Andean Citizen.” 

In his statement, he referred to integration and pointed up its importance for achieving unity.  “In Europe, we have many differences --of language, of culture, of history-- but even so, work can be done on different forms of cooperation.  I hope the integration of this continent will be strengthened.  And I say this --he went on to add-- because I have confidence in this continent and in the possibilities it offers.” 

The Secretary General of the CAN, Freddy Ehlers, for his part, invited the Prime Minister and Europe to work together to find a way for mankind to overcome the difficult moments the world is living today, which are expressed in rising food prices, global economic uncertainty, spiraling oil prices and, above all, the threatening effects of climate change. 

The CAN Secretary General and the Dutch Prime Minister, in a private session before the official ceremony, talked about the state of negotiation of an Association Agreement between the CAN and the EU and the possibility of implementing joint cooperation projects.