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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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AFormatinSearchofSubstance AnOverviewofRelationsbetweentheEUandLatinAmericainaEuropeanPerspective 15 LatinAmericanpartners ;( ThevaluesandculturalidentitysharedbyEurope andLatin Americaincludeseriousbutoftennotexplicit mattersforpolitical actionwhichhavetobedefinedandmadeexplicit ;( TheEuropeanpointof view whichconsidersregionalintegrationastheultimateobjectiveandthe preferentialwayofcopingwiththeproblemsofinternationalrelationsisbasically notsharedorlikelytobeadoptedin Latin America ;( Theselectivityof contactsandthe growingimportance ofsecondaryrelationsconfusesthe partners:explicitly the specificrole being played by Spainin theIbero Americancontextisnotorganicallyrelatedtothe EU process ;( The potentialsanddangersoftheroleofSpainas intermediary bridge or main doororchannel forrelationsbetweenEuropeandLatinAmericahavenotbeen evaluatedbyeitherside ;( 10 ThisraisesthequestionoftheEuropeanisationof Spainsrelationswiththeregionorthe IberoAmericanisation ofEULatin Americanrelations. 3.2 TheChallengeofAsymmetry Almost10yearsaftertheirdeclarationofstrategicpartnershipinRiode Janeiro theHeadsofStateandPresidentsofLatinAmerica Caribbeanandthe EuropeanUnion EU metinLimaon1617 May2008.Sincethismeeting relationsbetweenthetworegionshavereflectedtheirbasicasymmetry.This asymmetry pivotalintheLatin AmericaninterventionsinthelastEULatin AmericanSummit notonlyexpressestheinterestinthedifferentiatedtreatment ofLatin AmericaintradenegotiationsbetweentheEU and CentralAmerica SICA ), theCommunityofAndeanNations CAN and Mercosur butalso reflectscontradictorypoliticalprioritiesintermsofthematicinterests.The agendaofthepresidentialmeeting whichtackled ontheonehand poverty inequalityandinclusion attherequestofLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean and ontheotherhand sustainabledevelopment theenvironment climate changeandenergy whichareofparticularinterestfortheEU encountered significantdifficultieswhenitcametofindingacommondenominator.Although atfirstglance intheLimaDeclaration thefoodpricecrisisplayedacentral role transversely permeatingallthemes theinterestexpressed by Latin AmericancountriesinfindinganewframeworkofrelationswiththeEUismuch morenotable.Inalmostallthethematicagreementsitispossibletoperceivea livelyinterestinclearlyconveyingtheheterogeneityofthecountriesthatform thesubcontinent and the requestthatthese differences betakeninto consideration withtheEUimplementingmultispeedmechanismsaccordingly. Thissituationiseven moresignificantconsideringthescantinterest