The Andean Community dates back to 1969, when five South American countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) signed the Cartagena Agreement in order to jointly improve their peoples’ standard of living through integration and economic and social cooperation.  On October 30, 1976, Chile withdrew from it.  Venezuela was a member from February 13, 1973, until April 22, 2006.

Almost all of the Andean bodies and institutions were created during the first ten years of the integration process (in the seventies), except for the Andean Council of Presidents, which was set up in 1990.   

The policy or model that predominated in the seventies was the “import substitution” or “closed model” that protected national industry by imposing high duties on products brought into the country.  The State and planning played an important role during this stage. 

This model entered a stage of crisis, making the eighties a lost decade for both the Andean countries and Andean integration.  None of the countries in the region, from Mexico to Argentina, emerged unscathed from the debt crisis, which was reflected in the stagnation of the integration process. 

It was decided at a meeting held in Galapagos (Ecuador) in 1989, to replace the model of closed development with one of open development.  Trade and the market became the driving forces and this was reflected in the adoption of a Strategic Design and a Working Plan in which trade occupied the leading position.   

The Andean countries eliminated tariffs on their trade with each other and in 1993 formed a free trade area.  This gave a strong boost to trade within the Community, which increased heavily, creating thousands of new jobs.  Trade in services was also liberalized, particularly the different modes of transportation.   

In 1997, the member countries decided, through the Trujillo Protocol, to introduce reforms to the Cartagena Agreement in order to bring it into line with the changes that have taken place on the international scene.  These reforms put the leadership of the process in the hands of the Presidents and made the Andean Councils of Presidents and of Foreign Ministers a part of the institutional structure. The Andean Community was created to replace the Andean Pact.   

Since 2003, the integration process was given a social content as well.  An Integral Plan for Social Development was established by Presidential mandate (Quirama, 2003) and little by little the development issues that had been present early in the process and later abandoned, were recovered.   

In 2007, the Presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, meeting in the city of Tarija – Bolivia as the Seventeenth Andean Council of Presidents, declared that “it is necessary to develop and deepen the Andean Community integration process by taking more effective account of the visions and approaches of the Member Countries, in order to achieve unity within our diversity to serve our peoples’ wellbeing and our harmony with nature.  It is necessary to forge a comprehensive integration movement in which social, cultural, economic, environmental and trade aspects are in better balance”.  

This vision is reflected in the General Secretariat’s Working Plan for 2008, which provides for action in the areas of the Social and Political Area, Environment,  External Relations and Economic y Trade Area.

Areas of action

Social and Political area: The objective is to contribute to national efforts to overcome poverty, exclusion, inequality and asymmetries by promoting civil society participation and boosting actions to deepen political cooperation, among others.  Its programs are: Social Development, Food Security and Regional Development, Migration and Labor, Civil Society, Communication and Culture and Political Affairs.        

Environment area: An Andean Environmental Agenda comprising subregional actions to promote sustainable development is being implemented as a way of responding effectively to global threats to the environment.  Programs: Climate Change, Biodiversity, Water and Disasters 

External Relations: The CAN’s joint external projection within the framework of its Common Foreign Policy (CFP) reinforces the Member Countries’ negotiating capacity and is conducive to their playing a more important role within the dynamic international context. Its programs are: Latin America and the Caribbean, European Union and Other Countries and Organizations 

Economic and Trade Area: The aim is to consolidate the enlarged market in order to guarantee the unhampered flow of goods and services within the subregion and to contribute to job creation.  Its programs are: Goods, Macroeconomics, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Services, Investment and Intellectual Property 

Institucional Area: The purpose is to achieve an efficient management of the integration process by means of programs that address the General Secretariat’s other work areas. Its programs are: Legal Counseling, Andean Integration System, Statistics, Technical Cooperation, Administration, Information Technology, Institutional Services.