Prague - The European Union's foreign ministers met their Latin American counterparts Wednesday to discuss the swine flu epidemic, the global economic crisis and climate change. The officials are to debate the new influenza variant, A (H1N1), which was so far confirmed to have infected nearly 6,000 people worldwide and killed 63 in Mexico and the United States, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
"The intention is to talk about the measures taken, about ... whether we can help each other," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohouts aid.
Mexico, from where the new flu has spread, currently chairs the so-called Rio Group, the organization of Latin American and Caribbean countries that is meeting with the EU ministers in Prague.
The officials are also to talk about climate change but, Kohout said, the EU does not expect the Latin American countries to make any commitments to cutting emissions of planet-warming gases at the meeting.
"To talk about the approach of individual countries or a bloc such as the European Union is a little premature," Kohout said. "However, it will be certainly interesting to hear the Brazilian foreign minister on this issue."
The EU, which put itself to the forefront of efforts to fight climate change, hopes to strike adeal on curbing global warming at a United Nations climate conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen in December.
The global agreement would replace the existing Kyoto Protocol from 2013.
The Rio Group arrived at the meeting with four new members - Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Guyana. In a meeting on Monday, the EU resisted Cuba's call to normalize relations over the communist island state's human rights violations.
