At Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Commission
Andean countries agree to launch CAN-EU negotiations during the Andean Summit

Lima, June 8, 2007.- The Andean Community Member Countries agreed today to launch the joint negotiation of an Association Agreement with the European Union at the next Andean Presidential Summit, to take place next week in Tarija, Bolivia.

The agreement was adopted at an enlarged meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers with the CAN Commission held today by videoconference, following the approval of Decision 667 on the “General framework for negotiation of the Andean Community – European Union Association Agreement,” which lays to rest differences among the countries and paves the way for the negotiations. 

During the Meeting, chaired by Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, the Ministers decided to extend an invitation to the highest-level authorities of the European Union to attend the negotiation launching ceremony, so that they can accompany the Andean countries in this “historic and transcendental act.”   

The Andean countries agreed through Decision 667 to recognize the different levels of development and economic approaches among the Group and to take them into account “in the joint negotiation of an Association Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union,” together with “the right to express their differences and to negotiate different levels of coverage and of depth, as the case may be, in the topics and commitments of that Agreement.” They also agreed to implement the results of the negotiations “by means of procedures provided for in the Cartagena Agreement.” 

With thunderous applause, the participants demonstrated their satisfaction at the agreement adopted and all of them were in accord in considering the Meeting “historic” because of the consensus reached and of having overcome “one of the most difficult stages of the integration process."