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afrol News, 26 April - José Manuel Durão Barroso, Prime Minister of Portugal, on Wednesday declared he favoured the petition by the government of Cape Verde to the European Union (EU) to obtain a "special status". He also offered to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries to put more weight behind the Cape Verdean request. As afrol News informed two weeks ago, the government of Cape Verde has expressed its wish to obtain a "Special Status" for the country within the EU, making it possible for the Atlantic Ocean nation to obtain some structural funds at an equal basis as its neighbour archipelagos, the Spanish Canary Islands and Portuguese Azores and Madeira. Within this concept, Durão Barroso gave his total support to the Cape Verdean government and only found words of praising to describe the President of Cape Verde, Pedro Pires, whom he qualified as a "great statesman with a big experience in African matters." Pires, who is on an official visit to Portugal, was warmed by the "friendship and respect" of the climate in which his visit is taking place, emphasising the will of the authorities of both countries to "diversify and strengthen the relations between the two countries in a useful, fruitful and beneficiary way." During the meeting, where different matters of bilateral cooperation were debated together with the Euro-African cooperation, the Portuguese Head of Government noted the great pleasure he took in the Cape Verdean community within the Portuguese spoken world. Further he underlined his intention of strengthening the bilateral cooperation along the lines of a program that was agreed upon and signed earlier this year. The Portuguese ex-colony is part of the ACP trade agreement between Europe and 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Further, Cape Verde already has a special fisheries treaty with the European Union, one of the nation's more important revenue sources. Finally, based in an old monetary treatment with Portugal, the Cape Verdean currency, the Escudo, is fixed to the euro and therefore freely convertible. - Portugal being a member of the European Union, the Portuguese Prime Minister said, "and Cape Verde maintaining a cooperation treaty with the European Union within the context of the convent of the ACP countries, were are disposed to do anything that Cape Verde is asking us to do within our possibilities." The EU, for its part, already has a wide range of agreements with countries bordering the Union. The strongest cooperation is with the Nordic countries Norway and Iceland within the European Economic Area (EEA), where free movement of persons, goods and capital is assured. EU has a differentiated degree of cooperation and financial support with 15 "candidate countries" east and southeast of the Union. In its southern backyard, the EU has launched the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, which is to culminate in a free trade zone in 2010. Earlier this week, Algeria became the seventh country to sign an association agreement with the EU within the Euro-Mediterranean context.
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