Lima, November 21, 2005.- The Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Peru, Ambassador Antonio Cardoso Mota, at the opening ceremony of the Seminar “Social cohesion in the European Union – Latin American agenda: Achievements and convergences on an Andean perspective,” underscored the boost the Andean Community has given to social cohesion.

In one of his first presentations as the new Head of the European Delegation in Peru, Cardoso emphasized that social cohesion and integration are the two pillars on which biregional relations will be erected and stressed that that was one of the key concepts discussed at the Summit of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean, in Guadalajara, in May 2004, and that will continue to be discussed at the Vienna Summit in May of this coming year.

He went on to state that Latin America and Europe have fortunately begun to move together in regard to social cohesion and that the promotion of integration and social cohesion are two of the priorities in the programming of cooperation for 2007-2013, in which the Secretary General of the CAN, Ambassador Allan Wagner, has been actively involved.

The Director General of the Andean Community General Secretariat, Antonio Araníbar, for his part underscored the special relevance of social cohesion in the Andean perspective. "It is not by chance, therefore, that the Andean integration process at this time attributes special importance to addressing and resolving the deeply-rooted structural and momentary problems that are part of our countries’ major situation of poverty, inequality and social exclusion,” he stressed.

He went on to add that today various critical situations that affect the Andean countries have pointed up the importance of social cohesion. By way of example, he cited Bolivia’s case, stating that it is a demonstration of how in a democratic system, if political and economic stability is not accompanied by social stability, democracy and democratic institutions as a whole are jeopardized.

The Seminar on Social Cohesion is organized by the Observatory of European Union – Latin American Relations (OBREAL) --in which twenty-three academic institutions from the two regions are involved--, in coordination with the European Commission, the CAN General Secretariat and the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP) and with the collaboration of the Institute of International Studies (IDEI) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.