Bolivia's willingness holds key to an effective trade deal between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), Peru's Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Alfredo Ferrero told media on Thursday.

The CAN plans to begin talks with EU representatives in May in Vienna, Austria, in a summit between the EU and Latin American and Caribbean nations, to discuss CAN opening market to Europe.

The EU wants to talk to the CAN as a united regional organization, Ferrero said.

The 37-year-old group, based in Lima and involving Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador, is at stake now that Venezuela has declared that it would withdraw from the CAN because of the free trade agreements Peru and Colombia had reached with the United States.

Bolivia has also threatened that it might follow suit if the other three members all made the deal with the United States. Ecuador is negotiating for a deal with the U.S. amid domestic protests.

Ferrero said that Colombia, Ecuador and Peru "were very keen for a free trade agreement with Europe. They just have to make sure that Bolivia does not leave the regional organization."

Source: Xinhua