English.news.cn 2014-02-25 05:44:42
BRUSSELS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — European officials on Monday vowed to reinforce EU-Brazil ties and bring their “ambitious” agenda of cooperation forward.
“Brazil is an important economy and political partner for Europe. As strategic partners, we two share democratic values and enjoy close ties,” European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told a press conference after the 7th EU-Brazil Summit held here Monday.
The summit, attended by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, focused on accelerating growth, job creation, climate change and cyber security.
“We can demonstrate that Europe and Brazil are not only good in football, but in tackling global challenges and opportunities, such as climate change and the post-2015 agenda,” Van Rompuy said in a statement.
The EU-Brazil strategic partnership was established in 2007, in recognition of both sides’ political and economic importance.
The two sides have agreed to launch a new EU-Brazil dialogue on international cyber policy at the summit.
Addressing a press conference, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said both the EU and Brazil share the common interest of protecting a “free and open” Internet, which has spurred tremendous economic and social progress.
“At the same time, we will continue to enhance data protection and global privacy standards,” he said.
EU and Brazil have agreed to have the first meeting on cyber security during the conference on Internet governance, which Brazil will host in Sao Paulo on April 23-24.
They also agreed to construct a new fiber-optic submarine cable, which is connecting Latin America directly with Europe with a hope to make an important contribution to cyber security cooperation.
The only existing cable between Europe and Brazil is outdated and only used for voice transmission. Brazil relies on U.S. undersea cables to carry almost all of its communications to Europe.
In addition, in this year’s Summit, the two sides also launched first-ever dialogue meetings on drug matters and on international peace and security.
“We highlighted the importance of a comprehensive approach on the global drug problem and agreed to extend our dialogue to also cover the fight against corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking,” Van Rompuy said.
As for the economic ties, the two has agreed to boost competitiveness, growth and jobs by promoting trade, investment and innovation, and streamline regulation, including on competition, thus bringing benefits to business, workers, and consumers.
In particular, the summit has stressed the need to foster the internationalization of EU and Brazilian SMEs to make them more competitive and resilient to adverse domestic market conditions.