Andean Presidential Summit to center on political integration, social development, and the common market

Lima, June 14, 2001. The Thirteenth Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council to be held in Valencia (Venezuela) on June 23 and 24, will center on boosting political integration, reinforcing social development, and moving ahead with the establishment of the common market by 2005.

So stated Andean Community Secretary General Sebastián Alegrett today in his press conference to report on the nine preparatory meetings and the Thirteenth Presidential Summit that will be attended by the Heads of State of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela and the Peruvian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister on behalf of the President of that country.

Alegrett underscored the timeliness of this summit both within the Andean Community and outside it as the issues have come to fruition and declared that the decisions that are adopted "will constitute a point of no return leading into further integration."

He pointed out that there are three "families" of issues that will be addressed during the Presidential meeting: social development, the common foreign policy, and the "bulk," having to do with the Common Market.

Alegrett was of the opinion that "any integration policy that fails to prioritize social development will not be viable," and that therefore "steps to arrive at socially sustainable development policies are urgently needed and cannot be delayed."

Today’s challenges are to come to grips with poverty and social exclusion and to fulfill basic food, health, and education needs, he stated, going on to add that "those have been one of the concerns of the five countries that today’s Chairman of the Andean Presidential Council and Venezuelan Head of State Hugo Chávez has taken up and promoted."

He cautioned, however, that "economic integration of itself is not enough to resolve the social problems" and that vehicles for cooperation among the Andean countries are needed. The proposal has been made to set up an Advisory Social Development Council, which should produce a Comprehensive Andean Social Development Plan with precise and quantitative short-, medium-, and long-term goals for doing away with poverty and minimizing social inequalities.

The common foreign policy, for its part, has taken on a momentum that has been built up step-by-step with a view to moving toward consistent targets for a better defense of Andean global interests.

"In an awareness that this scenario is not limited to economic issues, an Andean Strategy for the Control of Drugs and Related Offenses is being put forward as a contribution of our countries based on the principles of shared responsibility that are the concern of the international community," stated Alegrett.

He emphasized the progress made in the negotiations between the CAN and the Mercosur to create a free trade area and the boost given to the Political Dialogue mechanism between the CAN, the Mercosur, and Chile, for which the Foreign Ministers of the nine countries will meet on July 17 in La Paz (Bolivia).

In the case of the Common Market, he drew attention to the importance of the draft Decisions on Border Integration Policies and the free circulation of persons which, if approved, "will make a major improvement in the quality of integration and a sweeping change toward facilitating the unimpeded traffic of Andean citizens."

"The development of border areas that have been traditionally bypassed is essential if these potential sources of conflict are to be turned into bridges that unite us," Alegrett stressed.

It is his hope that the Summit will produce guidelines for moving ahead with two important instruments of trade policy: the Common External Tariff (AEC) and the Andean Common Agricultural Policy (PACA).

The ministers are now looking into a proposal for amending the AEC, he reported, which would reduce the tariff spread, make the subregion’s exports more competitive, and consolidate the opening to trade on the basis of open regionalism.

In the case of the PACA, the Ministers of Agriculture and the Agricultural Committee have already discussed the proposal. "It is now up to the Commission to take the next step," he concluded.

The Thirteenth Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council will come to an end with the signing of the Act of Carabobo on Sunday, June 25, at which time Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will turn over the Chair of the Andean Community to his Bolivian counterpart, Hugo Banzer.