Today's Date:

THE MINISTER – (...) I’m very pleased to be here with you and I’m immensely grateful to Luís Ernesto Derbez, my colleague and friend, for his welcome. At the end of my round of visits in Latin America which has taken me to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, it was important for me to stop over in Mexico and have this in-depth meeting on all the issues of common interest.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES/LATIN AMERICA

We of course talked about the important issues of international life, the situation in the Middle East, in Iraq and the proliferation of terrorism, which are the major challenges facing today’s world.

We also talked about general issues, such as the development of Latin America and the different crisis situations which might arise there. France and Europe are supporting the efforts towards further regional integration in Latin America since, for us, they are all helping to promote peace and stability.

NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER/UN/MEXICO/UNSCR

We’re keen to strengthen our joint efforts to promote a new international order. The United Nations is one of the most important pillars for safeguarding the world’s integrity, and I’d like to pay special tribute to the role Mexico has played in the Security Council.

HUMAN RIGHTS

I’m pleased to salute, inter alia, your country’s commitment to upholding human rights, both at the United Nations in New York and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Your country has become an important multilateral player, as the major meetings in Monterrey, Mexico and Cancún demonstrate.

G20/GUADALAJARA/MERCOSUR/EU/MEXICO/TRADE

France has followed with a great deal of interest the emergence of the G20, which she considers a credible negotiator. Europe and Latin America must now work together more than ever before: my visit to this continent has made me quite sure of this.

Thanks to the EU-Mexico cooperation agreements, in 1997 we launched a drive to promote trade and want to inject new momentum into it.

The European Union and MERCOSUR have also drawn up an agreement to develop trade and cooperation through a new partnership thanks to President Chirac’s initiative in Rio in 1999.

This process continued in Madrid in May 2002, and this May in Guadalajara our heads of State are going to hold their third working meeting. President Chirac will be there of course, and the enlarged Europe will for the first time meet Latin America. We hope to be able to lay the foundations for a fairer, more secure and also more mutually-supportive order.

UN REFORM/UNSC/HIGH-LEVEL PANEL OF EMINENT PERSONS

THE MINISTER – As you know, the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, has decided to form a High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons to make proposals to the international community and we think that we have to focus on two important objectives.

The first is to ensure that the Security Council becomes more representative. It’s difficult to know how each region, each important part of the world, can be properly represented at the United Nations. This, of course, is an important issue in our dialogue with Mexico: what’s the best way to move forward?

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SECURITY COUNCIL/GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT ORGANIZATION/PERMANENT CORPS OF DISARMAMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS INSPECTORS

The second is to determine how the United Nations could be more effective, which is also very important. President Chirac has made many important proposals, including the creation of a genuine Economic and Social Security Council, the possible creation of a new Environment Organization, the creation of new capabilities allowing us to take stock of what happened in Iraq, and a body to uphold human rights so as to be able to deal with the serious situations arising in different parts of the world. We must be in a position to act and not remain passive in the face of such situations. This is why for us it's important for the United Nations to be able to assemble the necessary skills in order to enhance its legitimacy and efficiency.

We think that a united international community is in the best position to take up the major challenges facing the world. Clearly, when it comes to problems of terrorism, proliferation or regional crises, it is only the United Nations, the whole international community which can deal with them. One or two countries can't resolve the problem on their own.

(...)

EU-LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN MEETING

(...)

THE MINISTER – I totally share Luís Ernesto Derbez's view. I know there is concern in various parts of the world about Europe's enlargement. Indeed, some people are asking if the fact that there are going to be 25 of us is going to change Europe's policy guidelines or concerns. I strongly deny such an idea and the European leaders' desire to participate in the Guadalajara Summit clearly disproves it. We already have a decision to this effect from the German Chancellor, the French president and several other government leaders. We want to prove that our decision to develop our relations with Mexico, Latin America and MERCOSUR is absolutely essential, absolutely fundamental. We have very important political and cultural relations and we want our economic relations to be equally important; we share the same principles, the same values, the same vision of the international system, the same multilateral imperative. Consequently, we want to go on developing close relations. (...)./.