Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-23-Speech-3-024"
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"en.20080423.2.3-024"2
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"Mr President, Latin America shares many principles and values with the European Union as a result of their close historical, human and cultural links. You might even say we are natural partners.
The Lima Summit ought to enhance our bi-regional association with Latin America and the Caribbean in all areas, and encourage agreement to take on global challenges together, from climate change to drug trafficking or terrorism.
One of the most predominant problems in Latin America is social inequality. We must assist the countries in this regard, and it is my hope that the Lima poverty eradication agenda is an ambitious one, although obviously there is no substitute for the political will of the governments concerned.
A key factor in the fight against poverty is economic growth, which is facilitated by private investment. Investment, however, requires stable legal frameworks, and I would like to see an undertaking at the Lima Summit in relation to legal certainty. Foreign investors must not be scared away from Latin America, for in this age of globalisation they will have no difficulty finding other regions for their investment.
To strengthen bi-regional relations, including economic and trade relations, the negotiations on the association agreements with the Central American countries and the Andean Community must be speeded up. Hopefully the Lima Summit will also help to overcome the impasse in the negotiations with Mercosur. The agreements with Chile and Mexico ought to push things forward. While we are on the subject, I should say that consideration ought to be given to elevating Mexico’s association with the EU to strategic status.
With a view to forging closer human and educational links, ladies and gentlemen, I also hope that Lima encourages what is now known as the Area of Higher Education, the Common Area of Higher Education, and that we continue to make progress in terms of cooperation between universities and the recognition of studies and qualifications.
This Summit also ought to approve the Euro-Latin American Foundation, a type of think tank for the development of bi-regional relations, and give our relationship some much-needed visibility, since regrettably it is not well known in Europe.
Finally, I hope that the Summit will deliver a renewed commitment to pluralist democracy and respect for human rights in accordance with the profound concept of human dignity, which we support on both sides of the Atlantic. The idea of the political prisoner, Mr President, must be totally eliminated in Latin America, and in Cuba, and violence against dissidents must be stamped out."@en1
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