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Press Release
Jean Asselborn expresses “a very positive opinion on the political dialogue between the EU and Chile, now governed by the provisions of the association agreement”

Date of release : 26-05-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Event : EU-Chile Association Council


During the press conference after the 2nd EU-Chile Association Council, Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign Affairs and current President of the Council, took stock of the progress made in EU-Chile relations:

"I am very happy that the 2nd Association Council between the European Union and Chile took place in Luxembourg today. In this context, together with my counterpart Mr Ignacio Walker and Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, we discussed political, economic and cooperation topics.

In particular, I welcomed the coming into force on 1 March 2005 of our association agreement.  

We expressed a very positive opinion on our political dialogue, which is now governed by the provisions of the association agreement between the European Union and Chile. The coming into force of this agreement will undoubtedly strengthen even more the dialogue between the EU and Chile and will enable us to establish common positions and initiatives on topics of common interest.  

The Presidency welcomed in particular the role of Chile in missions organised by the United Nations (specifically participation in Operation ALTHEA and other missions such as, for example, in Haiti) and, more generally, Chile’s tireless commitment to peace and stability that make this country a privileged partner in the EU’s political dialogue.

More specifically, during our discussions we exchanged views on the preparations for the next United Nations Summit in September in New York on regional integration and the situation in Haiti.

As regards the assessment of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Chile, both parties expressed their satisfaction at the progress made in bilateral commercial areas since the signing and provisional application of the agreement."

Jean Asselborn then discussed the EU-Chile agreement on certain aspects of air transport services:

"The Presidency wishes to confirm that the Union’s internal procedures regarding the signing, provisional application and conclusion of the agreement between the Community and Chile on certain aspects of air transport services are about to be finalised.

Decisions on these issues can be expected in June.  

It is clear that considerable delays in reaching these decisions can, in part, be ascribed to the fact that this agreement with Chile is the first of a series of similar agreements.  

The text of this agreement had to be examined attentively in its entirety, including its legal aspects."

Finally, Jean Asselborn discussed the initiatives against hunger and poverty:

"The Presidency can only welcome the highly active role played by some of our countries in the technical examination and political promotion of some proposals, including within the World Bank and the IMF.

We are entirely willing to continue to examine these issues in our contacts with our partners; moreover, we will be doing just this tomorrow as part of the ministerial meeting with the Rio Group.

As you know, the EU Member states reached agreement last Tuesday on the new threshold for public development aid for 2010-2015.

We agreed to bring public development aid to 0.56% by 2010 and to 0.7%, the United Nations threshold by 2015.

This is the first time that we have put a clear date on this objective to devote 0.7% of gross domestic product to public development aid (PDA)."


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This page was last modified on : 26-05-2005

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