Tarija, Bolivia, June 14, 2007

During her address before the Seventeenth Andean Council of Presidents in Bolivia, the President emphasized that the Meeting was being held to accept Chile as an Associate Member of the Andean Community and stressed that this signifies “my country’s reencounter with one of Latin America’s most important integration processes.”  In the course of that event, the Head of State held bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and Peru, Alan García, accompanied by their respective Foreign Ministers. 

She explained to the Presidents of the four full members of the Pact that the hallmark of her government is “the virtuous combination of progress and social justice” and gave great value to her country’s 5 percent reduction in poverty over a period of three years, an accomplishment that she termed a “historic advance,” although, she was quick to clarify, “this does not mean that we are satisfied with the results.”   

The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, today, in the Seventeenth Meeting of the Andean Council of Presidents, held in Tarija, Bolivia with the presence of the four leaders of the full members of the Pact: Álvaro Uribe (Colombia); Rafael Correa (Ecuador); Evo Morales (Bolivia), and Alan García (Peru), underscored her country’s return to the Andean Community (CAN) as an Associate Member.   

The Head of State pointed out that for her country “this is not just one more Presidential summit; it is a meeting of great importance.  The Andean Council of Presidents has met to accept Chile as an Associate Member of the Andean Community --in other words, Chile has returned to the place from which it should never have left,” she emphasized. 

Her visit was made in response to the invitation extended by the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, after Chile’s incorporation into the CAN in September 2006 and only a few short days following the subregional group’s approval of Decision Nº 666, providing for that country’s participation in the Community bodies and mechanisms and also specifying the legal provisions to be applied for that purpose.   

In that connection, the Head of State pointed out that Chile’s incorporation into the CAN is doubly important:  it "signifies my country’s reencounter with one of Latin America’s most important integration processes (…) and, on the other hand, it constitutes an instrument in itself that makes it possible to bring our countries and our peoples closer together.  It is with pride that we proclaim:  Chile is an Andean country.”  She went on to add that her country hopes that the step taken today “will strengthen even further the fraternal ties between our country and the rest of the Andean nations.” 

She explained that the leaders of the region’s countries have been talking about integration for quite some time and that the desire has always existed to move ahead more rapidly.  "I believe that that inspiration continues to be a shared Latin American aspiration, but also a task that is not easy.  More than just resting on a history of shared battles and of a common cultural identity, integration also calls for truly converging national projects,” Bachelet stated.  

During the Meeting, negotiations were launched for an association agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union and the Presidency Pro Tempore of the CAN was transferred from Bolivia to Colombia.  The Chilean Head of State also held bilateral meetings with Presidents Evo Morales and Alan García, accompanied by their respective Foreign Ministers, before the official photograph of the regional meeting was taken. 

Speech before the Andean Council of Presidents

During her speech before the Council, the President remarked that everyone understands and shares the idea that a united region will be better equipped to resolve its problems of poverty and development, but emphasized that in order for "fair trade to exist under the present global conditions, it is essential to speak to the world with a single and a stronger voice. Particularly during this age when global problems demand action on the part of everyone,” she emphasized. 

She later went on to explain that Latin America’s history shows how difficult it has been to further strong and stable integration processes and pointed out that “today, when democracy has taken root in the region, when our economies are opening and becoming interlinked, we see that there is a new opportunity for greater integration and also that something basic now exists, which is the political will.” 

 She added that "while it is true that we have had problems, I believe that the bottom line shows not only success, but is also strongly promising.” 

In this connection, she valued the relaunching and strengthening of the CAN, the MERCOSUR, the development of the Río Group, the South American Community of Nations, and UNASUR, as well as the proliferation of agreements within the framework of the Treaty of Montevideo.   

President Bachelet pointed out that in recent years "intraregional interdependence has multiplied like never before in Latin American and South American history, as has unprecedented political harmonization among the democratically elected governments.”  

By of example, she stressed that in the case of the relationship between the CAN and Chile, before that country became an Associate Member of the CAN, Economic Complementarity Agreements were signed --within the context of ALADI-- with Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. She pointed out that in the cases of Colombia and Peru, the agreements “will be replaced by two new free trade agreements that have already been negotiated, and that in Ecuador’s case, we hope to widen the existing agreement toward an association agreement."

By the same token, the Head of State reported that trade between Chile and the CAN reached 4 billion 592 million dollars in 2006, 35 percent more than the previous year, and stressed that this year the figures are even more promising. 

As for Chile’s direct investments in Andean Community countries, she stated that they amount to more than 10 billion dollars and are concentrated mainly in Peru and Colombia. 

The Chilean Head of State pointed out that advances have been made trade-wise, but maintained that “we are not satisfied and believe that with our integration as an Associate Member, we will be able to improve our investments and the trade between our countries.”

She indicated that, confronted by problems “our duty as our countries’ leaders is to face up to and overcome those problems.  One of them is undoubtedly the diversity of development strategies used within our region as a result of the social deficit produced by the democratization and economic opening of the 90s.” 

In this regard, the Head of State maintained that, as countries, our courses of development are similar in some cases and different in others.  “We have different institutions; our levels of economic development present different problems, and for that reason we think that this diversity is a reality and will continue to accompany us and that we will have to learn how to work with that diversity."

Spheres of application and collaboration

President Bachelet then reiterated that it is necessary to "respect the courses our nations have democratically chosen and to strengthen our dialogue in an effort to talk over those things.”  “We must also seek to place emphasis on what unites us by identifying areas in which we are in agreement and turning those spaces into concrete initiatives with results that can be measured,” she went on to add.

She insisted that we "should continue with the process of convergence of the CAN and MERCOSUR, and move toward a flexible integration system that is open to the world.  But above all --to my way of thinking-- we must advance with an integration movement that means strengthening democracy and protecting the rights of all people,” she stated.   

She also expressed her government’s satisfaction, “because in having signed the Declaration of Tarija, we have identified 15 general spheres of application and 8 concrete areas of collaboration.” 

She pointed out that this means that the CAN Member Countries can advance together in key areas like inclusive human and social development; energy; innovation and connectivity; and the promotion of micro, small and medium business. “This will not only make economic development possible, but will also permit economic power concentration to be strongly reduced, creating more jobs and better conditions for more employment in our countries,” she claimed. 

The Government’s social hallmark

The Head of State later explained that the hallmark of her government is “the virtuous combination of progress and social justice” and added that when this subject is usually discussed, the charge made --particularly by the opposition-- is that “one chooses either economic growth or equity; one has to make an exchange because both are not possible together.  But we believe that they are and that is our commitment,” she stressed. 

In this connection, she reported that one week ago new social data were reported in Chile revealing historic progress: the findings of the CASEN survey made in November 2006 showed a 5 percent reduction in poverty, down from 18.7% to 13.7%. She also emphasized that the data revealed that poverty among the indigenous peoples, which in 2003 amounted to 29%, by 2006 had been reduced to 19%.   

She went on to add: "That does not mean that we are satisfied with those results.  What we want to say here is that we have proven in practice that poverty is undoubtedly reduced when a country grows, but only when that growth is accompanied by social policies that benefit the entire population.” 

President Bachelet also pointed out that "Chile’s development strategy is not a neoliberal model.  For a long time now, the country has a strategy of openness to the world, it engages in trade, but this goes hand-in-hand with basic social policies.”  

In this context, she explained that her country "carried out the reforms of the State that it had to, but never --ever since its return to democratic rule-- did it consider the possibility of growth without equity, and I want to tell you that concrete and unmistakable figures are a demonstration of this.”  She repeated that progress and social justice are possible and that they also end up being reinforced.

Lastly, the Head of State expressed her assurance that “we want to work energetically and together with the Andean Community to reduce the exclusion, poverty, and inequality that has marked the history of Andean societies.”

Source: Chilean Government Press Release