Lima, November 24, 2007.- For the first time in the history of Andean integration, more than three hundred representatives of civil society in the subregion’s countries met today at the CAN General Secretariat headquarters to discuss the Association Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union with Andean negotiators.

Representatives of Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador --the former two actually present at the Meeting and the latter two by videoconference-- heard a report on the status of the negotiation of the political, cooperation and trade pillars of the Association Agreement.  They were also given an opportunity to state their viewpoints, ask questions, make proposals, and express their concern about specific aspects of the negotiations.  

Among the issues that were singled out by the representatives of civil society were their participation in the negotiations, the need for bidirectional cooperation and the impact of the future CAN-EU Association Agreement on the production sectors, on the possibility for industrialization in order to cease being merely exporters of raw materials, and on respect for asymmetries and the inclusion of issues like Human Rights, Culture, Migration, and the Environment, among others.  

Several representatives demanded an active role in the negotiations, one “not limited to being in the next room.”  “We don’t want our role to be limited to receiving information.  We want real participation,” they stressed. 

They also proposed the preparation of impact studies to enable them to foresee positive or negative effects of the negotiations, so that the necessary precautions may be taken to keep the population from being affected in sensitive areas like intellectual property, agriculture, food security, services and so forth.  

The heads of the negotiating teams on Political Dialogue, Cooperation, and Trade, Leonardo Arízaga (Ecuador), Pablo Solón (Bolivia), and Eduardo Brandes (Peru) and the Representative of the European Commission, Francisco Acosta, replied to matters of concern that were raised and answered the questions posed. 

The General Coordinator of the CAN – EU Negotiations, Colombian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Camilo Reyes, who was responsible for the opening and closing of the event, called the meeting “historic,” considering that it was the first time Andean civil society gathered and also the first time that consultations on an EU negotiation were made during their course and not afterward, as in the case of previous agreements.  

He reported that in order to ensure civil society’s participation, a space has been set aside for that purpose during each round of the negotiations.  Other spaces for participation and information are also being implemented, such as this Meeting, which will again be held at the regional level following the Second Round, and the website on the negotiations that has just been created and through which pertinent information and a virtual forum for the expression of opinions have been made available to civil society.