"We need a solid, multilateral base in order to bring about a comprehensive and substantial development of economic relations between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean countries. A successful conclusion of the Doha Round is of key importance to that end", Martin Bartenstein, Austria’s Minister for Economics and Labour and President of the EU Council of Economics Ministers, declared today, Friday, at the first EU-Latin America/Caribbean Business Summit taking place in Vienna. Around 500 business leaders and decision-makers from all the participating countries are holding a meeting in parallel to the conference of Heads of State and Government. Bartenstein said it is important to speed up the negotiations in the WTO, as time is running out.
Bartenstein noted that the volume of EU trade with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) had risen by almost 13% in 2005 compared with the previous year to around 126 billion euros, but that the LAC region accounted for only 5.6% of the EU’s trade volume. There was therefore enormous potential for expanding trade flows in both directions. The volume of direct investment – around 287 billion euros by EU companies in LAC in 2004 – should also be substantially expanded in both directions, as this formed a solid basis for future economic growth, according to the minister.
Economic development in Latin America, Bartenstein continued, could encourage greater involvement in the region, which is recording economic growth of 5%, at a time when inflation stands at only 5.4%, the lowest for more than twenty years.
"Our aim should be a doubling of EU trade volume with the LAC-region over the next years. This is a necessary precondition as we want to build a bridge for more exchange on economic, technological, social, and cultural levels", Bartenstein concluded.
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