MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU top official visits Uruguay, Argentina, Chile

European Union Foreign Relations Commissar Benita Ferrero-Waldner currently visiting several Mercosur countries is scheduled to meet with her Argentine counterpart Jorge Taiana, Monday in Buenos Aires.

Cooperation, human rights and United Nations are some of the issues that the two officials will be addressing.

On Tuesday Ms Ferrero-Waldner is expected in Chile for a two days visit where she has appointments with President Michelle Bachelet and Foreign Affairs minister Alejandro Foxley

Ms Ferrero-Waldner will also be meeting with Transport and Communications minister Sergio Espejo with whom she will be discussing the benefits of adopting the European television digital system.

Chile is the only South American country that has an association agreement with the EU in the fields of political dialogue, trade and cooperation. Since signing the agreement at the beginning of 2006 bilateral trade has soared.

EU cooperation aid to Chile in the last four years reached 35 million US dollars and an extension of the agreement for the period 2007/2013 contemplates addressing such issues as social cohesion, tertiary education plus innovation and competitiveness.

A similar cooperation agreement will be signed with the United Nations Latinamerican Economic Commission, Cepal, with seat in Santiago, with the purpose of combating poverty and promotion regional integration.

Over the weekend the top EU official was in Montevideo for the XVIth Iberoamerican Summit which addressed the controversial issue of "Migration and Development". Latinamerican leaders were particularly critical of EU and US current policies which includes the massive deportation of Latinamerican migrants.

On a side agenda Ms Ferrero-Waldner signed a bilateral air travel treaty with Uruguay which enables EU based airlines to fly from Montevideo to all EU member countries.

"Uruguay becomes the second country in Latinamerica, behind Chile, for a horizontal agreement in air services with the European Union", said Ferrero-Waldner.

"This is a solid legal framework for air business between Uruguay and the EU", she underlined adding that it will help "to consolidate and expand relations in trade, tourist and other fields".