Decision 459
Community Policy on Border Integration and
Development
THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS,
HAVING SEEN:
Chapter XI of the Cartagena Agreement,
the Act of Guayaquil (Ecuador) of the X
Andean Presidential Council, and the "Bases
for a Community Policy on Border Integration
and Development," adopted on April 16 of
this year in Lima by the High-Level Group on
that subject;
WHEREAS:
In keeping with the effort to perfect and
reinforce the subregional integration
process, the Andean Presidential Council has
instructed the Andean Council of Foreign
Ministers to intensify border integration
and development;
Consolidating this process in the Andean
Community calls for improving the quality of
life of the inhabitants and modernizing the
institutions located in border areas, in
consonance with the progress made toward
building the Common Market, starting-up a
Social Agenda, and implementing the Common
Foreign Policy;
The Andean Community requires the
implementation of a Community Policy on
Border Integration and Development as an
essential element for strengthening and
consolidating the subregional and regional
integration efforts;
It is desirable for the bodies of the
Andean Integration System to contribute to
this undertaking by setting up a stable High-Level
Working Group comprised of compentent
national authorities on this subject, which
would help to advance and follow-up the
implementation of this Community Policy;
DECIDES:
CHAPTER I
PRINCIPLES
Article 1.- This Community Policy
is geared toward the following ends:
- Consolidating subregional confidence,
peace, stability and security;
- Intensifying the relations of
solidarity and cooperation among Member
Countries on the basis of mutual benefits;
- Developing the economic
complementarity of the Andean countries in
their border integration zones by first
putting to use their respective
comparative advantages;
- Contributing to the social and
economic development of the Border
Integration Zones (BIZ); and
- Consolidating subregional integration
and contributing to its regional influence.
CHAPTER II
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Article 2.- The following General
Guidelines shall orient the execution of
this Community Policy:
- It is a part of the basic Andean
Integration Agenda;
- It is based on existing bilateral
actions and national policies and is
complemented and enlarged by the
incorporation of the element of
subregional development;
- It is aimed at incorporating border
zones as dynamic territorial spheres of
the integration process that contribute to
the balanced and harmonious development of
the subregion;
- It respects the cultural identity of
the border populations and promotes their
integration by helping to strengthen links
of understanding and cooperation among
them; and
- It marks out, designs, and organizes
the Border Integration Zones (BIZ), as
well as the basic scenarios for execution
of the programs and projects that have
been prepared to respond to the specific
needs of each territorial sphere.
CHAPTER III
OBJECTIVES
Article 3.- The basic objective of
this Community Policy is to enhance the
quality of life of the inhabitants and the
development of their institutions within the
border areas of the subregional Member
Countries.
Article 4.- The specific
objectives of the Community Policy of Border
Integration and Development are:
- To facilitate the free circulation of
persons, goods, capital, and services over
border crossings through Community efforts
with regard to: physical infrastructure,
customs, migrations, and the harmonization
of Member Country provisions and
legislation.
- To further the economic development of
the Border Integration Zones (BIZ), taking
into consideration the unique features of
each BIZ in the strategies that are
designed to ensure the creation of jobs,
increase earnings, and raise the living
standards by promoting viable production
activities and encouraging
microenterprises and small and medium
business.
- To ensure that actions are taken to
meet the need for health, educational,
labor training, and environmental
maintenance and conservation
infrastructure in the Border Integration
Zones.
- To reinforce dialogue, consultation
and cooperation among authorities in the
Border Integration Zones so that joint
actions may be defined to advance
integration and economic and social
development, as well as to consolidate
peace, stability and security in the
subregion.
CHAPTER IV
INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND MECHANISMS
Article 5.- The Community Policy
on Integration and Border Development will
be directed by the Andean Council of Foreign
Ministers, with contributions from the
Commission, the Advisory Council of
Ministers of Economy and Finance, and the
corresponding Community bodies, as
appropriate.
The High-Level Working Group for Border
Integration and Development is hereby
created under the coordination of the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Member
Countries, with the Andean Community General
Secretariat as its Technical Secretariat.
The Member Countries give their assurance
that their competent national sectors will
participate actively in this effort. The
High-Level Working Group will be responsible
for proposing to the Andean Council of
Foreign Ministers and coordinating the
action programs and plans needed to carry
out the Community Policy on Border
Integration and Development.
The High-Level Working Group will be
supported by the binational mechanisms that
exist in the Member Countries, as well as
the Andean Regional Advisory Group
coordinated by the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) and the Andean
Development Corporation (CAF).
Promulgated in the city of Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia, on the twenty-fifth of May
of nineteen ninety-nine.
