Lima, Sept. 5, 2007. In two weeks’ time, the Andean Community will start a bloc-to-bloc negotiation of an Association Agreement with the European Union that will rest on three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade, CAN Secretary General Freddy Ehlers announced.

He confirmed that the First Round, involving dozens of negotiators from the Andean countries and the European Union, will be held in Bogotá, Colombia from September 17^th to the 21^st.

There will be three negotiating groups, one each on Political dialogue, Cooperation and Trade, the Secretary General explained.  The Group on Trade has been broken down into 14 subgroups: access to agricultural and non-agricultural markets, asymmetries, rules of origin, customs matters, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade defense instruments, services, government procurement, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement, trade and sustainable development. 

The Groups on Political Dialogue and Cooperation, for their part, will take up matters for consecutive negotiation throughout the entire process, such as, inter alia, human rights, the struggle against corruption, sustainable development, illegal migration, combating terrorism, the global illegal drug problem, and the environment.   

The CAN Secretary General was of the opinion that the environmental issue is very important because “a new development model will have to be planned that is in harmony with the environment, rather than plundering it.”

The four Andean countries will speak “with a single voice,” he emphasized.  During the first year, Colombia will act as the general representative of the Andean countries in dealing with the Europeans, while Ecuador will be the spokesman in the Group on Political Dialogue, Peru in the Group on Trade and Bolivia in the Group on Cooperation. 

After predicting “a successful conclusion,” he announced that the Second Round of Negotiations will be held in December in Brussels and probably a Third will take place before the EU – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit, where it is expected that stock will be taken of the advances made thus far in the negations. 

Ehlers reported that the CAN Member countries have been coordinating intensively over the past few weeks in preparation for the First Round.  Precisely today, he stated, a video conference was held between Andean delegates and Chilean negotiators, where Chile was able to share its experience in negotiating an Association Agreement with the EU.