Leaders from Central American and Andean nations who were hoping to use the summit in this Mexican city to get Brussels interested in moving more quickly toward free trade.

But they had to settle for a few words of encouragement in the final statement calling for progress toward association pacts including free trade.

"This process shall begin now, with a joint assessment of the respective economic integration processes of Central America and the Andean Community. The assessment shall lead at the appropriate time to negotiations," the final statement adopted by the 58 leaders says.

The Europeans also made a point of including the statement that any future free trade agreement will be built on the results of Doha round work.

The Doha round, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, stalled after the collapse in September of ministerial-level talks at a gathering in Cancun, Mexico, owing largely to disputes over government subsidies to farmers in rich countries and so-called Singapore issues -- cross-border investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation.

Ariel Graneda, adviser to the Nicaraguan foreign ministry, acknowledged the consensus reached "does not meet all the expectations" of Central America and Andean nations.

"Still, there are positive elements. ... It is progress insofar as a political will is voiced that would lead to strategic association with a free trade zone."

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said that compared with the last EU-Latin American summit in Madrid in 2002, this one marked "a very meaningful step forward."

Leaders here also agreed to press for the lagging Doha Round to "advance as much as possible in 2004 toward a swift conclusion."

They also welcomed the progress in EU negotiations for free trade with Mercosur, which groups Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. A final deal would create the world's largest free trade group.

"We believe that we can achieve a balanced and ambitious outcome based on existing clarifications and offers. So we instruct our negotiators to intensify their work so that the outcome can be achieved by the October 2004 deadline," they said in their declaration.

Mercosur is keen to wrap up the EU accord as negotiations toward the US-spearheaded Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have stalled.

"Without being overly optimistic, I do have some expectation that in October we will be able to celebrate a more ambitious pact than the minimum deal we have today," said Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa.