Lima, July 15, 2005

Mr. Secretary General, Allan Wagner
Presidents, Secretaries-General, Parliamentarians, Excellencies, dear friends.

There is almost nothing left to add to what the Secretary General has stated, because I believe he has mentioned almost everything we talked about, which means that we share some values and a common concern that will have to be addressed in the future.

For many years now the CAN Secretariat has been the European Commission’s privileged spokesmen and --I must add-- it is because of the personality of the present Secretary General that so much progress has been made, both in the sphere of our biregional relations and in regard to our regional activities. We are highly pleased with this collaboration and would like to see it continue in the future.

Insofar as the relations between the European Union and the Andean Community are concerned, there is no need to reiterate the importance we assign to this joint assessment exercise and it is our hope that satisfactory results will enable us to launch the negotiation of an association agreement --the sooner, the better. Now we must leave the experts to their work and hopefully the results will be good. I would like to say, of course, that we must consider a sufficient degree of integration. It would be important, at least, to give all of the goods and services of all of the CAN countries the same treatment. I know the Secretary General is well aware of this point and is extremely concerned about it, but I could not fail to bring it up.

We in the European Commission are very appreciative of the role being played by this General Secretariat, particularly in promoting social cohesion, a matter we also discussed this morning in the National Agreement. The Commission is obviously aware of the difficulties involved in mobilizing the governments to act on the matter, but we hope that the experts sent by the Commission to work and cooperate in this area will prove to be useful and I would like to add here that we will continue to work on the matter for the great summit to be held in Vienna in May 2006. The issues the Secretary General has mentioned we share also: regional cooperation, the environment, energy, social cohesion and the fight against illegal drugs. I would like to add a further topic, that of education and training, because I believe that this area is fundamental to social development.

In the context of our regional cooperation, the exercise in programming is already being prepared and we are seeking ways to make the start-up of this cooperation more effective. Despite numerous efforts by the General Secretariat, problems continue to exist, such as the delays caused by the failure of some CAN countries to provide their counterpart funds at the proper moment. In my meeting with the CAN Foreign Ministers in a few minutes’ time, I am going to insist on the need for the CAN Member Countries to vigorously support their General Secretariat. In point of fact, the General Secretariat is a key element, not only for deepening regional integration, but also for enabling our cooperation to produce effective results. I consider it important to reinforce this institution so that it can work in spheres of mutual interest, --as I have already mentioned,-- to which we could add multilateralism. Thought could also be given to supporting the creation of an Economic and Social Committee, which after having heard the National Agreement I also find very important. For our part, we will do our utmost to find the best instruments and procedures to enable the CAN Secretariat to realize its full potential within the framework of our cooperation.

We are ready and willing to hear anything you can propose to make our cooperation more effective and it is my hope that the excellent contacts that have been established between our services will continue to operate. Having defined the priority sectors, these contacts are especially important today. We should concentrate on only a few areas, considering the long timeframe needed for the prospective analysis and the programming.

A joint communiqué will be issued today. We want to tell the Secretary General that we also are in agreement with working together.

Thank-you very much.