The European Union (EU) is confident that its upcoming summit with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will have pragmatic results, despite complaints about inadequate enforcement of previous commitments, a senior official said Thursday.
"We expect this meeting ... to define joint actions that will make a big difference with the (earlier) declarations (that are now) lacking focus," Antonio Cardoso, chief of the European Commission (EC) delegation in Peru, said in an interview with Xinhua. Twenty-five heads of state and government of the 27 EU countries have confirmed their attendance at the two-day summit on May 16 in the Peruvian capital of Lima.
Only Italy, apparently because of a pending election, and Cyprus have not confirmed their attendance.
The leaders will be joined by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Development and Humanitarian Aide Commissioner Louis Michel, and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, said Cardoso.
The wide attendance by the European leaders shows the bloc's strong interest in accomplishing substantial accords with Latin American and the Caribbean nations, Cardoso said.
The EU-LAC summit, the fifth of its kind, is expected to focus on such themes as poverty, climate change, environment and energy. The last EU-LAC summit was held in Vienna in 2006.
"The Lima Summit will provide another important opportunity for political dialogue at the highest level in order to address major challenges in a frank and open way and to assess recent developments in both regions ... within the framework of the EU-LAC Strategic Partnership," said the European Commission in a statement.
In terms of security and potential threat of terrorism during the summit, Cardoso said he believed that all the necessary measures would be taken by the Peruvian government.
"We are collaborating (with the Peruvian government) and there is information exchange" on the issue, said Cardoso.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)
