Santa Cruz de la Sierra, January 25, 2002
Source: Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute (IBCE) Press Release

"Bolivia, despite all of its problems on the domestic and foreign fronts in 2001, broke all of its previous records for exports to the Andean Community: official data released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment reveal that the country’s exports amounted to 357 million dollars, a comfortable margin above the 308 million dollar figure for 2000, the last record for its sales to the CAN," according to the IBCE.

The CAN is without rival as a destination market for Bolivian exports; the MERCOSUR, the second most important market, received 320 million dollars’ worth of exports, of which 234 came from sales of natural gas. NAFTA (the United States, Canada and Mexico) purchased roughly half of what the country exported to the CAN (170 million dollars), while another megamarket –the European Union— accounted for only 142 million dollars of exports.

"The Andean Community is the only market that produces a trade surplus for Bolivia. It is the largest market for Bolivia’s products and the source of our largest foreign currency earnings from exports. This is not just an expectation, but an actual fact, and we must protect it at all costs," the IBCE press release emphatically proclaims.

The Andean Community: A destination for Bolivia

Shortly before one of the most important Andean Summits of recent years is to take place next week, the President of the BOLIVIAN FOREIGN TRADE INSTITUTE, Oswaldo Barriga Cuéllar, revealed details about the importance to Bolivia of the Andean market.

He underscored its "continuing trade surplus" as the hallmark of Bolivia’s relations with the Andean Community (CAN), resulting from the free trade area that exists within that bloc and the tariff protection offered by that market, which is so crucial for alleviating the transportation cost overruns that put Bolivian products at a disadvantage.

Bolivia’s trade surplus with the CAN rose 37% between 1995 and 2000, when it reached a record high of 140 million dollars.

Barriga went on to assert that the Andean Community is by far the most important geoeconomic area for Bolivian sales, last year largely surpassing its immediate followers, like the MERCOSUR (320 million dollars, 234 of them from sales of natural gas); NAFTA (170 million dollars); and the EUROPEAN UNION (142 million dollars).

A preliminary report on Bolivia’s exports to the CAN (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) in 2001 reveals that they amounted to 357 million dollars, 16% more than its total sales to that bloc in 2002 (without counting sales in transit through third countries).

This magnificent result confirms the enormous importance to Bolivia of the Andean market: the CAN receives almost one-quarter of the country’s total exports and is the market for over 50% of its non-traditional sales.

Barriga is of the opinion that this commercial success rests on the complementarity of Bolivia’s production and the CAN’s needs. This is especially true in the case of its agroexports, particularly of soybean products. He stresses, however, that the Andean Community is the main recipient of not only soybeans and soybean products, but also of a wide variety of other goods.

"The ANDEAN COMMUNITY’S importance to Bolivia should be gauged not only in terms of the ‘quantity’ of its sales, but basically of their QUALITY: the agroexports and manufactured goods (400 products a year) that are sold to the CAN are sources of jobs. The existence of the CAN has made it possible to attract large investments to expand the country’s export-oriented production, which have had important multiplier effects on the sectors of agriculture, banking, transportation, insurance and trade, among others, particularly with regard to the new jobs opened up in each link of the chain."

For that reason, he cautioned the Bolivian government to be extremely careful with this important market for "the country’s exports," pointing out that as occupant of the CAN’s Pro Tempore Chair, it is responsible for contributing to the safeguarding and "relaunching" of the Andean Community at the forthcoming meetings in Santa Cruz de la Sierra next Monday (Meeting of Andean Ministers) and on January 30 (Andean Presidential Council), which should put an end to repeated acts of noncompliance.