Date of release : 24-05-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Event : EU-Andean Community Ministerial Meeting

The meeting between the European Union, whose delegation will be led by Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister and current President of the Council of the European Union, and the Andean Community will bring together the Foreign Ministers of Peru, ad temporem Presidency of the Andean Community, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and the Secretary General of the Andean Community. Official cooperation between the EU and the Andean Community dates from the signature of a framework agreement in 1993, which came into force in 1998. Within this context, a new political dialogue and cooperation agreement which opens the way to a possible association/free trade agreement with this region was initialled on 15 October 2003 and signed in Rome on 15 December 2003. Notable among the subjects discussed at this meeting in Luxembourg will be bilateral relations, the political situation and the integration process in each region.