Lima, July 16, 2005.- The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers approved the new Andean Alternative Development Strategy that reinforces the principle of shared responsibility and adopts a comprehensive and sustainable approach, making alternative development an effective and efficient participatory instrument for human development and the fight against the underlying poverty in areas affected by the world drug problem.

The Strategy was approved by means of a Community provision at the Fifteenth Regular Meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers headed by Peruvian Foreign Minister, Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros, and attended by the Foreign Ministers of Bolivia, Armando Loaiza Mariaca; Ecuador, Antonio Parra Gil; and Venezuela, Alí Rodríguez Araque; and the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Camilo Reyes.

According to the contents of that provision, the alternative development actions and projects that are undertaken will no longer concentrate on establishing alternative crops in the illegal drug growing areas, but on consolidating sustainable local development nuclei in areas of influence considered of strategic importance.

Its approval brings to an end a process of convergence of national policies and programs on the subject and is the result of a broad-based process of consultation within the Governments of the Member countries and with local authorities, trade associations and peasant organizations in the areas where alternative development programs and projects are conducted.

In addition to the principles, general criteria, objectives and instruments for its implementation, the Community provision contains a general conceptual framework and an Action Plan specifying the areas where the strategy will be implemented, the lines of action involved and the expected results, as well as the institutional, financial, political, regulatory, planning, follow-up, evaluation and dissemination instruments.