MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU and Latinamerican leaders promise tighter trade ties

Leaders from Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean wrapped up a one-day summit in Lima promising to tighten trade ties even as some Andean nations balked at signing new free-trade agreements.

The Lima Declaration reached on Friday calls for trade ties among the regions to be solidified and backed calls for a successful conclusion of global trade talks. Still, Bolivian President Evo Morales said it was too early to move forward on a free-trade accord between the European Union and the Andean Community, made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. "We want trade, but we want fair trade, trade that allows us to find a balance between our continents and our families" Morales said to reporters. "Every day that passes, every year, I'm convinced that capitalism means death". Morales's position, backed by Ecuador, threatens to divide the Andean Community bloc. Peruvian President Alan Garcia said his nation wants to speed up talks to help boost economic growth and reduce poverty. Trade between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean totaled about 160 billion Euros last year according to the European Commission. The leaders also took up the issue of food prices, which have challenged leaders from Mexico to Argentina as commodity prices rise to record levels. High food prices in Haiti caused riots and led to the ouster of the Prime Minister. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been facing striking farmers for two months over export taxes she says will help fight inflation. The declaration called for "immediate measures'' to combat a global rise in food prices. "Faced with this food crisis, agricultural development has to be at the heart of cooperation policies'' said French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Lima. Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposed the creation of a "green fund'' to help finance projects aimed at slowing global climate change. Calderon didn't say how much money the new fund, which would promote reforestation, energy efficiency and public transport, would require. Contrary to what was expected the growing spat between German Chancellor Merkel and President Hugo Chavez ended in an apology and hand shake. Chavez had described Merkel as a political descendant of Adolf Hitler on comments from the German leader that the Venezuelan president did not represent nor was he the only voice in Latinamerica. "I haven't come here to fight. I was pleased to shake hands with the German chancellor" Chavez was quoted as saying during the Lima summit. "I told her that I was sorry if I'd been harsh," he said, according to Peru's state news agency Andina. Photographs showed the two smiling as they shook hands while heads of state mingled at the gathering dedicated to tackling poverty and climate change.