The Andean Community (CAN) and the European
Union (EU) agreed Saturday in Lima to establish a "flexible
framework" for their talks towards an Association Agreement that would
also include a trade deal, said Peruvian President Alan Garcia.
The meeting was also attended by delegates of CAN - of which Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are members - and of the EU troika - Portugal, Slovenia and France. European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso was also
present.
The deal was reached after Friday's EU-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC)
summit, also held in Lima, said in its final declaration that talks can be
flexible to allow deals to go into force with countries that are ready.
"As a consequence of that dialogue, I can now say that we have agreed a
substantial instrument to be perfected on June 12, at the final meeting of the
negotiators, and hopefully at that moment we will be able to seek the approval
of the European Union and of the CAN group," Garcia said.
The Peruvian president explained that each member of CAN will be able to decide
whether or not they subscribe to certain agreements, depending on their ability
to do so.
The discrepancies had been apparent in the third round of talks last month in
Quito, when Bolivia stressed it could not make commitments on issues like
public purchases and intellectual property and Ecuador said it was reviewing
its positions.
Colombia and Peru, in turn, are ready to sign the deals and asked the EU for
flexibility in its well-known insistence to negotiate by bloc.
"We (at CAN) are not yet at the (EU) level of articulation. Colombia and Peru have liberalized many things and there are differences with the other members of
the bloc. That is not bad, they are different visions on development,"
said Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
The parties intend negotiations to end by June 2009 at the latest, dpa report.
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