The foreign ministers of 48 EU, Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) met yesterday in Rio de Janeiro to agree the final draft of the Rio Declaration on setting up a political, economic and social partnership between the two regions.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said he believed Ireland should establish a landmark embassy in Brazil next year.
The draft Rio Declaration is expected to be confirmed by EU/LAC presidents and prime ministers today and tomorrow, at one of the largest such gatherings ever to take place outside a UN General Assembly. The foreign ministers' version of the declaration, which has been seen by The Irish Times, represents a significant advance for Latin America.
Its most crucial point is the establishment of a senior working group to "meet regularly, monitor and encourage" this new partnership, a commitment which some EU countries had been reluctant to make. The final version was agreed after intense negotiations which lasted until 4 a.m., only five hours before the ministers met.
"I would not describe it as victory for us, but you can say that the Latin American countries are very happy," a broadly smiling Chilean spokesman, Ambassador Patricio Lavalle, said. The EU also took a very positive attitude. "We must seize this historic chance for partnership," the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, said. He urged Latin American countries to move towards integration, and offered the experience of the EU as a model.
"The summit is a recognition of the remarkable economic and political progress made by Latin America over the last 10 years," Mr Andrews said. "Ireland enthusiastically welcomes this development." He agreed that Ireland had been among the EU countries which had wanted to delay free trade negotiations with Latin American countries, which have serious implications for Irish agriculture and the CAP.
Last Monday, however, he had participated in the EU foreign ministers' meeting which set the unexpectedly early start date of July 2001 for the talks. "We did not want to impede the advances on all the other fronts - cultural, social, and political - which the partnership promises," he said. "We will negotiate on behalf of our national interests when the talks take place."
Mr Andrews stressed the wide range of contacts he and other ministers will make at the summit. Yesterday he was holding individual meetings with his counterparts from Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Barbados, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Surinam. Today and tomorrow the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, is meeting Uruguay, Venezuela, Jamaica and Honduras ministers. (The Taoiseach is unable to attend the summit because of the Belfast negotiations).
Mr Andrews agreed that he will be lobbying support for an Irish seat on the UN Security Council, but he insisted that many other issues would be covered at these meetings. He cited the Colombian interest in the Irish peace process, Peru's in our use of the Criminal Assets Bureau against drug barons, and Cuba's in breaking out of the economic isolation imposed by the US blockade.
Despite recent alleged "regressions" in human rights, Mr Andrews argued that political progress in Cuba could best be assisted by "bringing the country back into the community of nations". He also said that he hoped to establish non-residential diplomatic relations with Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and set up an embassy in Brazil by next year. "We cannot trade or do diplomatic business at a distance. We have to be on the ground. It is quite unacceptable that we have no residential embassy in Brasilia."