Dr Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Member of the European Parliament, is convinced that the EUROLAT session will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the relations between the European Union and Latin America, as well as the relations between Lithuania and Latina America. “This event is an important emphasis of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which complements the palette of our Presidency priorities,” said Andrikienė, Deputy Member of the EP Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, at the press conference summarising the results of the meetings of the Standing Committees of EuroLat.

José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, President of EuroLat’s European component, and Leonel Vásquez Búcaro, President of EuroLat’s Latin American component, thanked Lithuania for its hospitality and expressed their appreciation of the extensive debates of the meetings.

Mr Salafranca informed that the participants of the meetings discussed the political situation and the state of play of democracy in the EU and Latin America, trade in raw materials, education, visa facilitation and liberalisation for members of the Andean Community, various agreements with Latin America, and the negotiations with the MERCOSUR countries. The Co-president of EuroLat also took note of the talks that started between the EU and the US and that were aimed at securing the trade and investment agreement. Mr Salafranca is confident that the agreement will help to improve the relations among the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Leonel Vásquez Búcaro noted that the meetings of the Standing Committees focused on regional security in Latin America and fight against drug trafficking, as one of the major problems of the region. He expressed his belief that political cooperation between the two regions was possible. “We believe that Europe is our main ally in cultural, social and political fields”, stressed the Co-President of EuroLat.

Mr Vásquez Búcaro informed of the joint declaration on the incident involving Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, whose plane faced problems when crossing the airspace of several EU countries. The Co-President of EuroLat observed that the incident was declared as unacceptable and in violation of international law.

Rimas Rudaitis, public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]