Lima, April 6, 2004. Today, in Brussels, the Andean Community Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, met with top officers from the European Union Commission in order to take the necessary actions aimed at deepening the relationship between both integration groups on occasion of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean Summit, to be held this coming May in Guadalajara.

Ambassador Wagner met with Christopher Patten, Foreign Affairs Commissioner, and Pascal Lamy, Trade Commissioner of the European Commission, accompanied by the Ambassador of Ecuador in Belgium, Mentor Villagómez, who is in charge of coordinating the Andean Ambassadors group in Brussels, as well as Ambassador José Antonio García Belaunde, Director General of the Andean Community.

At the said meeeting, the parties discussed the possibility of setting up a work program aimed at strengthening Andean integration and laying the foundations for the negotiation of an Association and Free Trade Agreement between both blocks. In this context, a Cooperation Agreement was executed for Technical Assistance in Trade matters, amounting to Four Million Euros, which, at its first stage, will provide One Million Euros to be used in strengthening Andean community regulations and Andean trade integration, in parallel with the international trade negotiations carried out by the Andean countries.