Lima, Oct. 19, 2006.- The Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs of the European Commission, Hervé Jouanjean, today expressed his trust that, before the year is out, the European Union will give the green light to the start of a formal negotiation with the Andean Community to sign an Association Agreement that will include political, cooperative and trade pillars.   

Hervé Jouanjean made this statement on concluding a visit today, together with the Head of the European Commission Delegation in Peru, Antonio Cardoso, to the acting Secretary General of the Andean Community, Alfredo Fuentes Hernández, and executives of the Andean organization headquartered in Lima. 

He reported that during the meeting with authorities of the CAN General Secretariat, the subject of reciprocal cooperation had been studied, particularly the prospects for negotiating an Association Agreement between the two blocs.  “I have been able to verify that the process is well on its way, both in the case of the CAN and on our part,” he pointed out. 

The CAN Secretary General, Alfredo Fuentes, for his part, explained that the meeting had offered a highly valuable opportunity to review the state of relations between the CAN and the EU and the steps that are being taken to start the formal negotiation of an Association Agreement no later than the first quarter of  2007.

"We are pleased to learn that the European Commission is on the verge of finalizing its proposal for presentation to the EU Council of Ministers to obtain the pertinent authorization, in accordance with the procedures followed for cases of this kind,” he stated. 

He indicated that the importance of Bolivia’s participation in the Association Agreement was discussed at the meeting, given the existing asymmetries, so that that country will be able to take advantage of the benefits to be obtained from political dialogue, cooperation and the opening of the markets as a result of the negotiation.   

The CAN Secretary General went on to stress that during the meeting the European Union revealed its will to not only continue with the cooperation projects that are underway, such as disaster prevention, statistical harmonization and trade, but also to launch new projects in the areas of civil society, drug control and the second stage of technical assistance to trade.