In regard to the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Presidents of South America, assembled in Guayaquil on July 26 and 27, 2002, do hereby state:

1. Their conviction that the full implementation of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Summit on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and respect for the principles contained therein, are indispensable in promoting authentic sustainable development.

2. Their decision to coordinate their respective national positions, following the guidelines of the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative on Sustainable Development, which were prepared on the basis of the Platform for Action towards Johannesburg 2002 approved in Rio de Janeiro in October 2001. This regional coordination was entrusted to Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano and Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

3. Their confidence that the Summit will conduct an objective assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21, the progress made, the goals not met, and the problems that the countries have been facing, mainly the developing countries.

4. The need for the Summit to adopt clear goals and definite dates in its implementation plan, above all in terms of new and additional financial resources, the reduction of poverty, access to the markets of industrialized countries, appropriate transfers of technology under favorable and preferential conditions, as well as the development of initiatives in the field of energy, education, scientific knowledge and capacity strengthening, in order to bolster the sustainable development process.

5. Their satisfaction with the Huaraz Declaration on Sustainable Development of Mountain Ecosystems, signed on June 14, 2002, which constitutes a substantive contribution by the mountainous countries to the aforementioned summit.

6. Their endorsement of the May 2002 initiative of tourism and environmental officials from Ibero-American and Caribbean countries regarding the need to promote the sustainable development of tourism.

7. Their exhortation, in the spirit of the Johannesburg Summit of moving forward with actions geared to strengthening environmental protection, that the Kyoto Protocol be ratified as soon as possible.

Eduardo Duhalde
Republic of Argentina

Jorge Quiroga
Republic of Bolivia

Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Federative Republic of Brazil 

Andrés Pastrana
Republic of Colombia

Ricardo Lagos
Republic of Chile 

Gustavo Noboa Bejarano
Republic of Ecuador

Luis Angel González Macchi
Republic of Paraguay 

Alejandro Toledo
Republic of Peru

Hugo Chávez Frías
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 

Luis Hierro López
Eastern Republic of Uruguay

Samuel R. Insanally
Cooperative Republic of Guyana 

Maria Elizabeth Levens
Republic of Suriname