Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-15-Speech-1-042"
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"en.20060515.13.1-042"2
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"Mr President of the Republic of Bolivia, I would like to welcome you to the plenary of the European Parliament at a time when Europe’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean are highly topical and are being debated between us.
We will also have the opportunity to discuss this within the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the creation of which was decided upon at the Vienna Summit. I hope that it will provide us with new opportunities for political dialogue.
Mr President, your visit today is both symbolic and multi-faceted, because it reflects the European Parliament’s commitment to enhancing relations with Latin America, it reflects the importance of parliamentary diplomacy and it reflects the role that dialogue must play in resolving any conflicts that may arise amongst us.
Thank you once again, Mr President. You have the floor.
Just three days ago, the leaders of our two continents held their fourth Summit in Vienna, in which you played an important role.
It is a pleasure for the European Parliament to receive you as President-elect of Bolivia, the first President of indigenous ethnicity, of the Aymara, whose three fundamental principles are contained in their three wise sayings
: do not steal
: do not be weak
: do not lie.
The President of Bolivia was born in a poor and out-of-the-way town in Bolivia, in Isavalli, in the canton of Orinoca, very close to lake Poopó, in Oruro. These names sound remote to us because they do not fall within our normal geographical references.
From childhood he was a farm worker, he looked after his family’s herd of llama, he worked as a brickmaker, a bricklayer, a baker and a trumpet player.
Then, when the Bolivian high plateau suffered one of the most serious droughts in its history, his family emigrated to new pastures, to Cochabamba. There he embarked upon a trade union and political career that has led him to the Presidency of his country, the second poorest country in Latin America, after Haiti, but which has the second largest gas reserves in the whole of Latin America; a country in which two-thirds of the population live in poverty, and which, throughout its history, since it achieved its independence, has had difficult relations with its neighbours, a country which today is seeing the emergence of new political forces, such as that of the President, who has won the elections with 53% of the vote and who, as you know, is proposing political measures relating to the nationalisation of the energy industry and investments made there by many European companies, something which we undoubtedly have an interest in debating.
I would therefore like to thank you for coming here, Mr President, and not just for speaking to plenary, but also for agreeing to take part in a debate in the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the dinner that will follow it.
Please believe me, Mr President, that we very much appreciate your visit, because it was clearly acknowledged in Vienna by many Latin American Heads of State that the return to democracy in the region has unfortunately not led to any improvement in the living conditions of a large proportion of the Latin American population.
Europe and Latin America are determined to try to build a cohesive society and Bolivia is a clear example of the essential need to include a very significant proportion of its population in human development, since they have not benefited from the natural wealth of their country."@en1
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