Argentina supports dialogue
between Colombia and Venezuela
The
Argentine government expressed
their support Monday for the
initiatives of dialogue between
Colombia and Venezuela, driven
by Brazil and Peru.
The Foreign Ministry said in a
statement that "the Argentine
government supports the
dialogue-facilitating
initiatives put forward by
Brazil and Peru, in order to
collaborate with the respective
governments of Colombia and
Venezuela. "
Argentina also expressed its
"complete disposition to
cooperate" in this regard.
Argentina called on the
governments of Colombia and
Venezuela to find a satisfactory
solution to the current
diplomatic spat through
negotiations.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
froze his country's diplomatic
and commercial ties with
Colombia in early January to
protest what the called
Colombia's "kidnapping" of a
rebel leader in Caracas, the
Venezuelan capital.
The move is considered by
Venezuela as a violation of its
national sovereignty.
The Colombian authorities have
acknowledged that they paid
bounty hunters to capture
Rodrigo Granda, one of the top
leaders of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
but they insisted that Granda
was arrested in the Colombia's
border city.
China, Mexico sign 7 cooperation
accords
China
and Mexico signed seven
cooperation accords here on
Monday to facilitate their
trade, tourism and judiciary
exchanges.
The accords included a treaty on
criminal judicial assistance, an
agreement on maritime
transportation, a memorandum of
understanding on the
implementation of a plan on
Chinese traveling to Mexico, a
memorandum of understanding on
sanitation and plant sanitation
measures, and a protocol on
quarantine requirements for
ruits exported by the two
countries to each other, and a
framework agreement on offering
loans to each other.
Mexican President Vicente Fox
and visiting Chinese Vice
President Zeng Qinghong attended
the signing ceremony of the
accords, which are expected to
give a new impetus to the
mutually beneficial cooperation
between the two nations.
Before the signing ceremony,
Zeng and Fox held talks and
reached important consensus on
boosting bilateral ties.
Zeng arrived here Sunday for a
three-day official visit to
Mexico, the first leg of his
five-nation tour of Latin
America and the Caribbean. He
will also visit Peru, Venezuela,
Trinidad and Tobago, and
Jamaica.
Zeng is also to attend the
opening ceremony of the first
ministerial-level meeting of the
China-Caribbean Economy and
Trade Cooperation Forum 2005 on
Feb. 2 in Kingston, capital of
Jamaica.
Zeng is leaving for Cancun in
southeastern Mexico Tuesday
before winding up his Mexican
trip on Jan. 26.
|
|
Brazil, Spain vow to strengthen
strategic partnership
Brazilian President Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva and visiting
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero said on
Monday that the two countries
are to take measures to enhance
their strategic partnership.
The two sides will increase
political dialogues between high
officials, support each other in
the international arena, and
strengthen cooperation in social
development, infrastructure
construction, environment
protection and other fields,
they said in a statement.
Rodriguez Zapatero, who arrived
here on Sunday night, also urged
Brazil to help forge closer ties
between South America's Mercosur
trade bloc and the European
Union.
Lula said trade between the two
nations had risen to around 3
billion US dollars a year but
was still far below its
potential.
He called on Spain to increase
investment in health and
infrastructure sectors in Brazil
and South America.
Brazil exported about 1.8
billion dollars of goods to
Spain last year, including soy,
iron ore, coffee and meat.
Spain, the second largest
foreign investor in Brazil, has
invested 26 billion dollars in
Brazil's financial and
telecommunications sectors.
Rodriguez Zapatero, on his first
visit to South America since
taking office last year, will
fly to Argentina on Tuesday for
talks with President Nestor
Kirchner, and then to Chile to
meet with President Ricardo
Lagos in Santiago.
|
|
|
|
