Andean Summit to focus on the European Union and tariff preferences

Susana Madera
Agencia EFE
Quito, June 1, 2006

The Andean Summit scheduled for this coming June 13 in the Ecuadorian capital will focus on the attainment of an Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) and getting the United States to extend the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA).  

The Secretary General of the Andean Community (CAN), Peruvian Ambassador Allan Wagner, after meeting today in Quito with Ecuadorian President, Alfredo Palacio, announced that the Summit will center on preparations for the CAN-EU negotiations and attempting to keep the ATPDEA from ending this December, as scheduled. 

The President of Ecuador himself, according to Wagner, told him that the Quito Summit “will be basically political.  It is a meeting that should serve as the starting point for the return to normal of the Andean integration process.”  

The meeting will take place at an “extremely important, a critical moment for the CAN” because of Caracas’ announced withdrawal “and it is a question of keeping the doors always open to Venezuela, a founding country and key player in the integration process,” Wagner added. 

For that reason, he pointed out, an adjustment is needed in the CAN’s working program and in the process itself “so that all the Member Countries will feel that they benefit from the integration process and participate equally in it.”

In a statement made to EFE, Wagner denied that the CAN is dead, as the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, put it last Tuesday in Quito, and explained that Venezuela’s withdrawal “does not mean that that country’s commitments are cancelled.  Under the establishing Agreement, they will continue to exist for at least another five years.”

For Wagner, integration “cannot be considered a bulwark against the rest of the world, but should be viewed as a platform for building the capacities that will leave us better equipped to participate in the world economy and to meet our peoples’ needs.”

Wagner also explained that although the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act is a U.S. prerogative, it is by no means unilateral because the Andean countries committed to fight drug trafficking in exchange for tariff exemptions. 

"The ATPDEA is said to be a unilateral U.S. agreement with the Andean countries, but in actual fact, politically, it is not.  Politically, it is an understanding between the Andean countries and the United States to work together in fighting drugs,” Wagner pointed out. 

He went on to add that "the United States, as backing for this war on drugs, offered to allow our exports to enter the U.S. market duty-free in order to help create legal jobs to combat illegal coca-growing and other related illicit activities.”  

For these reasons, he insisted that an effort would be made at the Quito meeting to take a joint stand to request an extension of the tariff preferences until the various free trade agreements (FTAs) are signed with the United States. 

"The reasoning behind this is that the ATPDEA should remain in effect until succeeded by the FTAs.  Two countries (Peru and Colombia) have completed their negotiations and Ecuador is well on the way to doing so.  That country is taking a short break, but we trust that it will soon resume those negotiations,” Wagner explained. 

Although Bolivia has participated in this process only as an observer, the CAN Secretary General considers that that country is also interested in keeping the tariff preferences in place.   

Ecuador’s acting Foreign Minister, Diego Ribadeneira, at a press conference today, appeared to be confident that the CAN’s “problems will be ironed out” and expressed his regret over Venezuela’s “sovereign” decision to abandon the group. 

Wagner pointed out that Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru will be attending the meeting on June 13 and that Venezuela’s presence will depend upon the host President (Alfredo Palacio) and the leader calling the meeting (Evo Morales).

Last Tuesday in Quito, Chávez announced that he had not received an invitation to the Summit of June 13 and that if he did receive one, he might consider attending.  EFE