“All dialogue between regions is positive. It is a dialogue in which Latin America has to get to know its different voices”. Such is the opinion of Pablo Solón, Ambassador for issues of integration and commerce of Bolivia about the forthcoming Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit (LAC-EU). In his interview with ALAI, Solón emphasizes that it is fundamental for the European Union to recognize that LAC is a region with various models, where many of the negotiating countries are in a process of “what we call emerging liberating democracies, which are beginning to apply a different approach”.

“The Latin American and Andean reality is that we have different visions, and that any dialogue between blocs or regions needs to have some atypical characteristics, in the sense of permitting this diversity of emerging economic approaches and visions about development”, emphasizes the Bolivian Embassador. At least in this question the countries of the Comunidad Andina de Naciones –CAN- do agree: there are hopes and expectations that the Lima Summit may lead to a common European and Andean position, meaning that an association agreement (Acuerdo de Asociacion, AdA) between the two regions will have to take into account these differences, and that they have to be reflected “in an innovative architecture which permits the conclusion of the negotiations as well as the strengthening of the Andean process of integration”. In this sense Solón stresses: “We do not believe that this is about finding a common position towards the EU, that would be unrealistic, it has nothing to do with reality”.

At the same time, he recognizes that in some matters there already exist common positions between the Latin American and Caribbean countries. One of them is migration: “There is an Andean, but also regional proposal being drafted, which fundamentally stresses the recognition of the economic, social and cultural human rights of migrants; mainly, not to treat them as illegal migrants –because to us, no human being is illegal- and a set of laws which secure the fulfillment of their rights in this regard”.

Other aspects where, to a greater or lesser extent, common positions exist, include disarmament and certain political issues. “ Our position is not only one of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but of disarmament, and that these two elements have to be linked together –Solón points out-. On more general political and legal topics I think common proposals are possible. However, in economic and commercial matters there is a clear diversity of positions which are not necessarily convergent”.

To Pablo Solón, the CAN-EU negotiations whose third round took place in Quito at the end of April is a sign on a smaller scale of the changes occurring in the world, indicating that for the first time, changes in the mere idea of negotiations on trade are being implemented on a higher level. There are efforts to consider not only different extents and levels of economic development, but also diverging economic approaches. “There are countries or governments who believe that the way to go is the liberalization of trade and to increase exportations. On the other hand, there are countries like Bolivia who say NO. To us, the fundamental issue is economic development thought of in terms of our people, to guarantee their food sovereignty; and that exportations can take place only after this sovereignty has been guaranteed to our population”.

The Bolivian Ambassador thinks that free trade represents a problem to food security, “because big business is mainly interested in selling at the highest possible price in order to maximize profit. And this leads to increasing prices of food which is against the interests of a population that is already in a precarious situation, with almost twenty thousand people dying of hunger every day worldwide. We have to say: Stop! If we let things go on like that on their own, it will lead us to an unsustainable situation. To us, this is a crucial issue”.

The Bolivian position

But Bolivia does not reject signing a commercial agreement in advance. “It always depends on the terms –Solón insists-. We have clearly expressed that a commercial treaty stressing free trade is not convenient to Bolivia. Now, an agreement on trade that takes into account the asymmetries, the different positions and visions of the economy, an agreement that permits us to ensure and consolidate the preferences regarding tariffs that exist nowadays in the SGTP+ agreement, and that does not force compromises on matters of service, public procurement and investments and intellectual property, seems favorable to us”, he recognizes. Bolivia has set out certain parameters for the negotiations. “For example, we do not share a vision of tax deduction and automatic elimination of customs duties and with a fixed deadline. We believe that each country has to deduct or lower its tariffs according to the pace in which it increases its exports to the other country. Because otherwise, the central objective of an association or commercial agreement, which is economic development, both social and human at the same time, cannot be guaranteed. Because in the end, what can happen is that a country not only benefits from the liberalizations established in a treaty, but that it also happens to be negatively affected by the imports on the other hand”.

Regarding the question whether the EU will accept negotiating an agreement that is not identical for all the countries of CAN, Solón informs that this is a process initiated in the third round of negotiations, where “it has been clearly stated how the different visions result in different proposals on the level of trade. And this only recently begins to be assimilated by the EU, because in this round they have been confronted with the fact that effectively there will not be a single agreement for all the countries. There are topics where there will be a unique position and we have it, but there are issues where this is not the case”.

Citizen Participation

Pablo Solón recognizes the importance of the participation of civil society in the process of the negotiations of the AdA, but he admits that the lack of transparency has been an obstacle. However, he believes that civil societies “have to collaborate with their governments in order to become more informed over time. There are many ways of informing. We are doing it in Bolivia and I believe that in other countries, similar information processes are starting to take place”. He admits that it is not easy, because this process differs from the one that took place in the FTAA, where the position of social movements was one to put pressure on the governments in order to reject it as a whole. But in the present negotiation “there are positions on the part of some governments that use a different approach to the negotiations concerning trade. So in some cases we have a civil society that takes a contesting position, and in others it engages in advocacy”.

For advocacy, obtaining information and detailed knowledge has become even more important. One example is the Bolivian proposal saying that, to reduce tariffs, there has to be an increase in exports of one third in a year. “We entirely inform our civil society and the public that this is our suggestion, and we want them to know it to be able to receive as many contributions as possible. What are the main products that should be part of this package that we hope will increase by one third every year?” Another package would be one of the products that would be part of a process of tax deduction in order to protect them for the future development of newly emerging industries. “So, the negotiation includes an array of details which have to be known, especially if one seeks to determine them by including civil society. And this is what we are doing”, Solón concludes. (Translation By ALAI)

* This article was published in "América Latina en Movimiento", magazine, no. 431-432, May 2008.