Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel presented preparations for an EU - Latin America and the Caribbean summit to the participants of a conference on relations between Italy and Latin America, which opened in Rome on Tuesday.
The summit, which is scheduled for 16 and 17 May in the Peruvian capital of Lima, will be organised during Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of next year. Rupel said that the EU was striving to enhance strategic partnership with Latin America based on common values and economic, political, cultural and historical relations.
Slovenia will endeavour to make the Lima summit a step forward in boosting trade between the two regions, he told the conference "Italy-Latin America: Together toward the Future".
According to Rupel, Slovenia is prepared to share the experience it gained in the transition to a market economy with South American countries. He said the key momentum in Slovenia's case was integration into European structures. "The EU offers the answers to key issues of the modern world," he said.
The EU is a successful example of the eradication of poverty and economic underdevelopment, and it is based on this model that Slovenia is willing to help Latin America find a sustainable model of social and economic development, he said.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|