The EU unveiled plans to strengthen ties with Latin America on Monday.
Brussels is attempting to build on bilateral relations ahead of the EU-Latin America summit on May 12.
“Tackling poverty and social cohesion are our main priorities for Latin America now and in the future,” external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters.
“The EU is the biggest foreign investor and the primary trading partner for Latin America. The region boasts enormous potential and I am proud the EU has been an important partner on its path to reform.”
The EU-Latin American partnership is an Austrian presidency priority.
“The summit in May will help develop political will,” said José Ignacio Salafranca, the European parliament’s rapporteur on enhanced cooperation between the EU and Latin America.
“I believe the summit will create the machinery for driving change. Latin America does not need hand-outs, it needs opportunities. ”
Salafranca’s report includes commitment to creating a Euro-Latin American free trade area by 2010.
“Establishing an enhanced strategic partnership through a network of association and free trade agreements covering all the countries of the region and strengthening the existing agreements with Mexico and Chile,” is one of the key elements of the commission’s proposal.
Other aspects of the partnership include political dialogue – focusing in particular on social cohesion and the environment.
The EU executive has proposed a social cohesion forum and a meeting of environment ministers every two years to prepare for EU-Latin America/Caribbean summits.
Since 1999, the commission has set up association agreements with Mexico and Chile and has signed political dialogue and cooperation agreements with the Andean community (countries such as Colombia and Bolivia), as well as Central America.
Negotiations are also under way on an association agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
“These agreements, combined with the ongoing major regional cooperation programmes, provide a solid basis for the intensified political relations that the EU is developing with Latin America,” the commission said in a statement.
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