Leaders from the Andean Community started their summit today and initially agreed that regional unity was necessary to combat the global financial crisis. Yet that idea hit a bump when Ecuador and Bolivia decided to opt out of a trade deal with the E.U. Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa said that the bloc would seek political and economic cooperation agreements with the E.U. and called for a summit between both groups. According to Bloomberg that may be a challenge:
The split over trade within the Andean group threatens to erode the bloc's negotiating power. The European Union has said the South American countries must meet demands over financial deregulation and intellectual property before talks can resume.The heads of most members of the Andean Community attended the conference yet one notable absence was Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Diplomatic relations between both states have been cut since the March raid of Colombian forces into Ecuador which killed a guerilla commander. Uribe cancelled going to the summit citing remarks made by Correa to a Brazilian newspaper on the raid; Correa replied that he had been misquoted.
Image- Living in Peru
Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Bloomberg
Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo
No comments:
Post a Comment