EFE News Agency
Montevideo, December 8, 2005

The Secretary General of the Andean Community (CAN), Allan Wagner, affirmed that Venezuela’s negotiation to become a full member of MERCOSUR could prove to be the initial stage in the formation of the South American Community.

"I consider the decision an extremely positive one, because that is the course we must all take to build the South American Community of Nations,” Peruvian Ambassador, Allan Wagner, assured EFE, on stepping out for a few minutes from the Common Market Council meeting in which the MERCOSUR Foreign Ministers are participating.

The bloc, with its four founding members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, currently has as associate members Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, although the Caribbean country should become a full member tomorrow, Friday.

The decision will be formalized when the five Foreign Ministers affix their signatures in the presence of the Heads of State, who will be participating in the bloc’s Presidential Summit.

The South American Community of Nations consists of the Member Countries of MERCOSUR and the CAN, together with Guyana and Suriname.

"Venezuela is giving us a very important opportunity to advance this [South American] convergence,” the CAN Secretary General announced.

Wagner wished to make it very clear that Venezuela did not need to leave the Andean Community --of which it is a member, together with Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia-- in order to become a State Party of MERCOSUR.

"In fact, this very day, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Alí Rodríguez, reiterated that the country has no intention of leaving the CAN. I agree with him; there is no need for it to do so, and it will not,” the former Foreign Minister of Peru stated emphatically.

He went on to explain that last year the CAN approved a resolution authorizing Community members to negotiate and establish links with third countries, provided that this does not affect any Member State.

"We firmly believe that the examination of the process (of incorporation) will produce the key to harmonizing the legal systems of the CAN and MERCOSUR so that they can be South Americanized,” Wagner added.

He was of the opinion that it is necessary to take advantage of the process in order to ensure that “a single, more complete South American customs union can be fashioned from two imperfect customs unions.”

Even so, Wagner remarked that the most important point is “the quality of the integration process,” for which he considers that development and social cohesion must necessarily be strengthened.

"Integration must not be left a trade-oriented process only,” he went on to add. EFE