PRAGUE (AFP) -- The European Union on Thursday offered a helping hand to Central and South American countries in their fight against drug trafficking and other crime in a bid to boost security in the region.

“The EU has expressed solidarity and a readiness to help tackle the security situation” in the region, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.
European ministers discussed issues ranging from crime to development cooperation with counterparts from Mexico, Chile, Central American countries associated in the System for the Central American Integration (SICA) and South America's MERCOSUR.
Valdrak Jaentschke Whitaker, Nicaraguan state secretary for external cooperation, called Central America a region “stuck between... the production of drug trafficking and the consumption of drug trafficking.”
“We are small vulnerable countries with scarce resources and we have to pump this money into a battle that is not ours,” said Whitaker, whose country now presides over the SICA.
“We are a (drug) transit area and this undermines the very fabric of our society and potentially it means these problems might become rife in our society,” he added, calling for more responsibility from other countries including the consumption countries of the EU.
In the meetings held under the Czech EU presidency, running to June 30, the EU also agreed to push ahead with an association agreement with the Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external relations, called for more progress in work on “free movement of goods, services and investment from the EU to Central America,” which “will help tackle the economic crisis.”
“We need to build bridges on both sides,” she added.
But Whitaker also pointed out the differences or “asymmetries” between Europe and Central America that must be taken into account before “a region of stability and prosperity” can be built.
“What we were hoping was to see a much more flexible approach on the European side,” he said.
He called for a partnership agreement that “recognizes that we are different, that each of us has different perspectives, but that we respect these differences,” and added he “wanted a good agreement which is always better than a quick agreement.”
The meetings were held a day after the EU's summit with the Rio Group of 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries ranging from Mexico to Cuba.