Quito, October 14, 2003

We are gathered here today to launch the second round of negotiations for the signing of a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union, with the shared conviction that the time has come to deepen relations between our two blocs. This should enable us to work together in all of the spheres touched upon in the relations between our two regions, with their rich history of common views and hopes.

As Commissioner Chris Patten so aptly put it at the meeting between the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and the European Troika this past September 25th in New York, the Agreement that we will conclude on this occasion will not only help to spur action in areas of priority where we share common aims and goals, but should also lay the groundwork for the immediate negotiation of an “Association Agreement” that would include a free trade area between our two regions.

That Agreement should result in a long-term strategic alliance that would both guarantee reciprocal access by our products to each other’s markets and give a greater measure of legal stability and certainty to the decision-making process of the political, economic and social actors.

With the launching of the first round of negotiations this past May in Brussels, Andean integration entered upon a second generation of policies. Reinforced coordination and cooperation will enable the CAN to implement its multidimensional agenda, of which topics such as democratic governance; the full exercise of human rights; security, peace and confidence-building; social development; building of the Common Market; and Andean relations with third parties, should be stressed. The Andean Presidential Council, meeting in Quirama, Colombia, in June of this year, endorsed this new strategic agenda.

We share the view expressed recently in New York by Commissioner Patten that it is important, in the existing international context, for the Andean Community Member Countries to send positive signals about their commitment to form a Common Market and apply a Common External Tariff. For that reason, I am in full agreement with the words stated by the Head of Delegation of the European Commission, which are in line with our aspirations.

I would like to stress once again that relations between the Andean countries and the European Union are and should be pursued on a region-to-region basis. Our leaders have reiterated their choice of multilateralism as the guiding force in their international relations. This is particularly important given the present international and hemispheric situation. It is in this scenario that we believe that the deepening of relations with the European Union will provide a good and necessary counterweight.

In fact, the implementation of the Doha working program has drawn attention to the need to consolidate and deepen Andean integration and CAN-EU relations.

I should like to point out once again the need to review, in the light of recent developments, the conditions established in the Madrid Declaration for deepening CAN-EU relations by signing the cited “Association Agreement”. The launching of negotiations to reach that agreement has progressed from being mutually convenient to being imperative.

The Andean Countries, highly committed to the war on the worldwide drug problem and related offenses, are deeply concerned over the possibility that the generalized system of preferences of the European Union will be restructured, with the consequent loss of the preferences granted to them under the Drug-related GSP, because of the findings of the World Trade Organization Panel currently studying the conformity of that GSP with multilateral rules and regulations. Rather than lamenting the situation, we must turn it to our advantage as an opportunity for exploring new ways and means to pursue our trade relations.

My presence here today confirms my trust that we will be able to effectively and successfully resolve pending issues in the course of this round. It is indicative of our firm intention to sign the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement before the year is out, as we have been invited to do by the Italian Ambassador who heads the Delegation of the European Union. And it means that we are willing to turn our efforts to do our own part and initiate the necessary political contacts to negotiate the Association Agreement.

I would like to conclude by bringing to mind some words spoken by Cardinal Carlo Mario Martini during an interview by Umberto Eco. He stated that in order to act morally, we must allow our intuition to operate. Well, then, my intuition tells me that we are on the right course and I sincerely hope that the intuition of the European Union corroborates this.

Thank-you.