Brasília, February 3, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - France backs the process of regional integration in the Southern Cone. So said the French Minister of Foreign Relations, Dominique de Villepin, who is on an official visit to Latin America. The chancellor, who has already been to Chile and Argentina, disembarks in Brasília tonight. Tomorrow (4) he will meet with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Ministers of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, and Culture, Gilberto Gil. His agenda in Brazil includes the negotiations between the European Union and the Mercosur to create a free trade zone, beginning in 2005.

The Brazilian docket contains reform of the United Nations and the evolution of the project to construct a bridge over the Oiapoque River, on the border between Amapá and French Guyana. (DAS)