Lima, Feb. 14, 2006.- The Andean Community Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, on a visit yesterday to the Vienna headquarters of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, ratified the commitment of the Andean Community Member Countries to the worldwide fight against illegal drugs and the role that, under the principle of shared responsibility, each member of the international community is called upon to play in this process.   

He emphasized that "the Andean countries, convinced that all the world’s countries have an obligation to fight illegal drugs because of their harmful effect on public health, security and national institutions, continue to strongly pursue a policy of drug traffic control in all spheres."

Along these lines, he affirmed that the General Secretariat and the Andean Community as such will continue to advance programs based on Decision 505 (“Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses”) in order to find sustainable solutions to this scourge.  It is for that reason that the Andean countries have been actively involved in the various strategies in this area, including the United Nations conventions and universal Plan of Action, the OAS Anti-drug Strategy in the Hemisphere, and bilateral and multilateral agreements with Europe and with countries in other regions.    

In this context, the Andean strategy to control drug trafficking involves programs to control chemical precursors at both the Andean Community level (“Andean Regulation for the Control of Chemical Substances used in the illegal
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,” adopted through Decision 602) and in the framework of its relations with the European Community  (December 1995 CAN-European Community Agreement on Precursors and Chemical Substances), to control asset laundering, to reduce drug consumption in our countries, and also to control synthetic drugs.  An Andean Integral and Sustainable Alternative Development Strategy has been recently adopted to provide legal and viable economic options in order to restrict drug production in our countries and contribute, at the same time, to the fight against poverty and social exclusion.   

The Secretary General also pointed out that the proposals put forward by Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma are along these lines, but bring in an additional element: despite the existence, particularly in Bolivia, of traditional and age-old coca leaf consumption, Annex I to the Vienna Drug Convention does not allow for widespread legal industrialization of coca-based products, except for those intended for scientific research programs, medical purposes and the production of preparations devoid of alkaloids.    

"It is for that reason that, based on that particular case, an attempt is being made to promote up-to-date international scientific studies of possible alternative coca leaf industrialization processes,” Wagner added.  “This could serve as a basis for the Bolivian government’s promotion in international forums of a change in status that would make it possible to remove coca leaves from Annex 1 to the Convention, in order to produce non-toxic products.”  

This matter --he went on to state-- should first be considered by the Andean Community Member Countries and later taken to the 2008 United Nations Summit that is planned to evaluate progress in this area.