Lima, Feb. 1, 2006.- The Trade Ministers of the Andean Community countries agreed to work out a special common tariff level for the European Union that will enable the CAN and EU to start the negotiation of an Association and free trade Agreement this May. 

They accordingly instructed the High-Level Group responsible for designing the Andean Community’s common tariff policy to include in their work the definition of what is technically known as the “common starting point for tariff reduction,” for use by the Member Countries in their negotiations with the European Union. 

CAN Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, termed the Trade Ministers’ agreement a “step forward” in defining the Andean Community’s common tariff policy.  

The Trade Ministers have been meeting in Lima since yesterday within the framework of a regular session of the Andean Community Commission, which today carried out a special program for the visit of the Director of the World Trade Organization, Frenchman Pascal Lamy.

At yesterday’s meeting, the Commission approved a working program to define the Andean Community’s common tariff policy and agreed to postpone the entry into effect of the common external tariff established by Decision 535 until January 31, 2007, in order to give time for that work to be done.

According to the working program approved by the Andean Trade Ministers, seven meetings will be held in 2006.  At the last one, scheduled for December 4, 2006, the CAN Commission should approve the Community Decisions on the Common Tariff Policy and on the starting point for tariff reduction with the European Union. 

The following Ministers and Vice-Ministers of Trade participated in the meeting of the CAN Commission:  María Luisa Ramos Urzagaste, from Bolivia; Eduardo Muñoz, from Colombia; Jorge Illingwort Guerrero, from Ecuador; Pablo de La Flor, from Peru; and Roger Enrique Figueroa Guerrero, from Venezuela, who chaired the session; as well as the CAN Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón and the President of the Andean Court of Justice, Olga Inés Navarrete Barrero.