By Xinhua,
Quito : Representatives from the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and the European Union (EU) began their third round of negotiations here Monday aimed at reaching agreements on free trade and association.
According to an EU bulletin, officials from EU and the four CAN members — Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — will focus their discussions on political dialogue, cooperation and trade, such as trade access, environment protection, intellectual property and cultural integration.
The meeting, which is to last through Friday, will not touch on a free trade agreement. Such agreement need to be discussed “sector by sector, product by product and with mutual benefits,” Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said over the weekend.
The meeting’s agenda also includes anti-terrorism fight, immigration, human rights, scientific information and technological cooperation, according to the bulletin.
The first two rounds of talks were respectively held in the Colombian capital of Bogota in September 2007 and in Brussels in December 2007.
During the last meeting, both sides admitted the existence of asymmetry and sensitivities in relation to the talks.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said there is an enormous difference in development between EU and CAN, adding that the asymmetry also existed inside the Andean group. Therefore, she said, the negotiations needed innovative initiatives.
According to statistics from the Central Bank in 2007, the European Union is Ecuador’s third-largest trading partner, after the United Sates and the Andean Community.