Press Release: EU Andean Community: Ministerial Meeting, Vilamoura, 24.2.00

The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Andean Community and the European Union met in Vilamoura on 24 February 2000, for the IXth Institutionalised Ministerial Meeting between the European Union and the Rio Group.

At that meeting, held in the framework of the political dialogue mechanisms between the Andean Community and the European Union established in the 1996 Rome Declaration, an exchange of views was held on the political and economic situation in both regions, and on the state of relations between the two regions and their prospects.

The Ministers also welcomed the positive development of institutionalised political dialogue and the specialised dialogue with the Andean countries on the fight against drugs and cooperation on that matter, based on the principle of co-responsibility. They stressed the importance of development cooperation as an essential mechanism for fighting poverty, and emphasised the smooth economic relations between the two regions, the fundamental feature of which is the existence of the System of Generalised Preferences, with positive social effects.

The Ministers highlighted the achievements of the recent meetings of the Joint Sub-Committees for Trade and Industry and for Science and Technology. They also welcomed the forthcoming third meeting on chemical precursors and the fourth high-level meeting on drugs, to be held in Lima.

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