In 1993 the Andean Community membership: (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) and the European Commission signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement (adopted by the Andean Community as Decision 329 which entered into force in 1998). The 1996 EC Declaration of Rome set out a draft Declaration on Political Dialogue between the European Union and the Andean Community, which contemplates official meetings on bilateral and international matters of common interest to be held at the presidential and ministerial level.

In May 2002 at the EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit, held in Madrid, a new Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement was initiated between the European Union (EU) and the Andean Community. This agreement was signed in Rome in December 2003 and, once ratified, will replace the 1996 Declaration of Rome and the 1993 Framework Agreement on Cooperation. At the 2005 EU Ministerial meeting, Andean Community Ministers informed the EU that the 2003 Agreement had been adopted by Andean Community's Foreign Affairs Council on 11 July 2004, through Andean Community Decision number 595. At the July 2006 EU-Andean Community High Level Meeting, both sides agreed on the need to speedily ratify the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement and on the need for a future Association Agreement ot be comprehensive and include political, cooperation and trade pillars.

The 1993 Framework Agreement identified different cooperation areas and established joint committees for follow-up activities as well as a subcommittee on trade, which have continued to operate. A Joint Committee (originally established pursuant to the 1983 Cooperation Agreement) continued to operate.

With the 2004 Declaration of Guadalajara, the EU initiated a joint assessment of the Andean Community integration process, which was referenced in the Joint Committee declaration of January 2005 as a step leading towards negotiations on an Association Agreement, including a Free Trade Agreement. At the ministerial meeting in May 2005, Ministers set up an ad hoc working group to advance in the technical aspects of the joint assessment exercise. The first meeting of the working group took place in Lima, Peru on 5 April 2005. The second meeting took place in Brussels, Belgium on 26 July 2005. The third meeting took place in Caracas, Venezuela on 10-11 November 2005. At this meeting the technical phase of the process was concluded. The final report was presented to the Joint Committee in July 2006. On 19 April 2007, during the XIII Ministerial Meeting between the Andean Community and the European Union, Ministers expressed their intention to begin negotiations of the Association Agreement in May 2007. Negotiations were launched on 14 June 2007 on the occasion of the Seventeenth Regular Meeting of the Andean Council of Presidents held in Tarija, Bolivia. Both parties welcomed the approval of Decision 667 containing the General Framework for the Negotiation of the Associacion Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union that establishes that the different levels of development and economic approaches among both groups will be taken into account in the negotiations.

The first round of negotiations were held in Bogotá on 17 September 2007. The second round took place in Brussels, Belgium on 14 December 2007. The third round of negotiations we concluded in Quito, Ecuador on 25 April 2008.

Documents relating to the negotiations
25 April 2008	Quito, Ecuador. Third round of negotiations
14 December 2007	Brussels, Belgium. Second round of negotiations
21 September 2007	Bogota, Colombia. Conclusion of the first round of negotiations
17 July 2007	First round of negotiations of an association agreement will be held in September
14 June 2007	Declaration of Tarija: Launching of Andean Community-EU negotiations
08 June 2007	Decision 667: General Framework for the Negotiation of the Association Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union
19 April 2007	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. EU and Andean Ministers express their intention to begin negotiations of an Associacion Agreement in May
12-13 July 2006	EU-Andean Community High-level Meeting
12 May 2006	EU and Andean Community initiate process towards Association Agreement
11 July 2004	Andean Community Decision 595
26 May 2005	Luxembourg. Andean Community-EU Ministerial meeting
29 May 2004	Declaration of Guadalajara
15 October 2003	Political Dialogue and Co-operation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Andean Community and its Member States, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, of the other part
06 May 2003	Launch of the negotiations of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Andean Community (CAN), 6-8 May 2003
30 June 1996	Declaration of Rome
03 April 1993	Framework Agreement on Cooperation
22 October 1992	Andean Community Decision 329
Source: Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina; European Union
Documents relating to the Joint Committee EU-CAN
21 January 2005	Brussels, Belgium. Joint Committee EU-CAN. Final Declaration
21 January 2005	Brussels, Belgium. Joint Committee EU-CAN. Report on the outcome of the Subcommittee on Trade
28 April 2004	Quito, Ecuador. Joint Committee EU-CAN. Final Declaration
19 February 1999	Minutes of the fifth meeting of the EU-CAN Joint Committee
Source: Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina; European Union
Documents relating to the ad hoc working group
11 November 2005	Caracas, Venezuela. Third meeting of Working Group. Joint Communication: Andean Community - European Union
26 July 2005	Brussels, Belgium. Second meeting of Working Group. Joint Communication: Andean Community - European Union
05 April 2005	Lima, Peru. First meeting of Working Group. Joint Communication: Andean Community - European Union
Source: Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina; European Union

• Council of the European Union
• European Union (EU)
• Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina