On the occasion of the
meeting held at the Residence of the
Governor of Táchira State, in the city of
San Cristóbal, Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, on April 14, 2005, to present the
“Proposal to Define and Delimit the Border
Integration Zone: area of Northern Santander
(Colombia), Táchira (Venezuela)”, prepared
by the Francisco de Paula Santander
University and the Free University of
Colombia –Cúcuta Campus, of Colombia, and
the Universidad de los Andes – Border and
Integration Center (CEFI-ULA) of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, with the
assistance of several organizations of the
Colombian-Venezuelan border area and the
technical and financial backing of the
Andean Community General Secretariat, the
Governors of the Department of Northern
Santander, Colombia, and Táchira State,
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, make the
following
PRONOUNCEMENT:
1. To reaffirm their
absolute conviction that a Border
Integration Zone – BIF, between Colombia and
Venezuela, created within the framework of
the stipulations of Andean Community
Decision 501”Border Integration Zones (BIZ)
in the Andean Community ,” of June 2001,
will become a fundamental tool for boosting
the shared integration and border
development of the two countries within a
region that effectively constitutes the
Andean Community’s most dynamic and fastest
growing border area, a political decision
that will furthermore offer a concrete
answer to the legitimate aspirations of the
social and economic actors in this border
region.
2. To recognize the value
of the academic effort of the three border
Universities mentioned above and, in this
connection, to receive with interest the
study that has been delivered and to thank
them and the Andean Community General
Secretariat for the technical and
intellectual contribution this work
represents.
3. To request our
respective National Governments to arrange
as soon as possible for a bilateral dialogue
led through a Specialized Working Group
formed to create and establish the Colombian-Venezuelan
Free Trade Zone, which would use the
proposal put forward as one of the inputs
for its undertaking. We consider that that
effort should be completed before the next
meeting of the Andean Presidential Council
so that the bilateral instrument creating
the BIZ may be signed at that meeting.
4. To recommend to our
National Governments that the said
Specialized Working Group be headed by
representatives of the Foreign Ministries of
our two countries and made up of delegates
of the Presidential Commission for Colombian-Venezuelan
Integration and Border Matters (COPIAF), the
Governors’ Offices of the Department of
Northern Santander (Colombia) and Táchira
State (Venezuela) and the Association of
Colombian and Venezuelan Border Chambers of
Commerce, among other representative
national and border region organizations.
Moreover, to propose that a representative
of the Andean Community General Secretariat
join that Specialized Group in order to
provide technical assistance for its work,
as established in article 8 of the above-cited
Andean Community Decision 501.
Signed in the city of San Cristóbal,
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, on the
fourteenth of April of 2005.
