Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-29-Speech-3-088"
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"en.20020529.7.3-088"2
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". – Mr President, honourable Members, when my colleague, Commissioner Patten addressed you a fortnight ago regarding the Commission's preparation for the Madrid Summit, he specifically highlighted the need for the partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean to be a credible process and for the summit to produce concrete results.
Finally, we look forward to working with Member States and coordinating our initiatives with theirs in order to better implement the bi-regional partnership. By the time the next EU Latin American-Caribbean Summit takes place in Mexico in 2004, I hope we will be pleasantly surprised by how much progress has been made in the six short years since the launch of the strategic partnership in 1999.
Now, with the summit behind us and after the very comprehensive account that the Presidency has just presented to you, I can confidently say that we have succeeded in our aims. Madrid clearly proved that the bi-regional partnership we established at Rio is much more than just another talking shop. Today my aim is not to provide you with an in-depth analysis of the three principal documents that the Madrid Summit produced, the Presidency has already discussed this issue in detail. The already widely available documents are, as you know, the political declaration, the common value and positions paper and the assessment report on our progress since Rio.
I want to draw your attention to the fact that the assessment report clearly stresses that the European Commission is most probably the most active institution in promoting the concrete implementation of the strategic partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1999.
On behalf of Commission Patten, I would like to pick out the most important points to come out of the summit. The fact that heads of state and government from both regions confirm their conviction that multilateralism is the best way to handle the problems and challenges that face the world today. Both parties have rejected unilateralism in political and trade matters and have committed to joining forces and promoting a common vision on these significant issues within the framework of multi-lateral mechanisms. This represents a strong commitment which will help us to move the partnership forward on a daily basis.
The Commission is particularly satisfied with the outcome of the meetings and events that took place in the context of the Madrid Summit. Firstly, we were able to successfully complete the European Union-Chile negotiations in due time to allow Mr Prodi, Mr Aznar and Mr Lagos to announce the official conclusion of the negotiations and the establishment of our much awaited association agreement.
Secondly, the Madrid Summit provided an occasion for the European Union and Mercosur heads of state and government to note with satisfaction the progress made by the bi-regional negotiations committee towards the establishment of an inter-regional strategic association. They also agreed on a new mechanism for their meetings with greater frequency, so as to strengthen and deepen the EU-Mercosur political dialogue. Furthermore, a ministerial meeting will take place hopefully next July in order to provide impetus for negotiations of the trade chapter.
Thirdly, the demands of both the Andean Community and Central America, for the opening of negotiations towards association agreements with the EU were also answered adequately at Madrid. Significantly, a decision was taken to negotiate political and cooperation agreements with both regions. It was also decided to strengthen cooperation on trade, investment and economic relations. These three initiatives should establish the conditions under which feasible and mutually beneficial association agreements, including FTAs could be negotiated between the European Union and both regions. Evidently, these will have to build upon the outcome of the Doha work programme which we have committed to complete by the end of 2004.
Fourthly, the 18th Ministerial Conference of the San José dialogue held on the periphery of the Madrid Summit, decided on a renewed agenda and on a new format for the political dialogue. The Commission shares the view of our Central American partner that it is necessary to keep alive the particular nature of the San José dialogue. The outcome of the Madrid Summit shows that the bi-regional strategic partnership is now well under way. Certainly the Spanish Presidency's hard work played a key role in ensuring the success of the summit.
The Commission is particularly focused on the need to lead the EU-Latin American-Caribbean partnership in implementing new concrete bi-regional initiatives. In the field of education, the Commission has just launched a brand-new scholarship programme, ALBAN, which will allow 4 000 Latin American postgraduate students to complete their training in Europe. The existing bi-regional programme for SMEs exchanges, AL-INVEST, will be renewed on the basis of its success. The ALIS programme has recently started to function and pilot projects in the information society field should soon be put into place. Additionally, we are currently working on the design of a new social initiative by fostering contracts between administrations and the programme aimed at disaster prevention."@en1
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