Lima, Dec. 18, 2006.- The acting Secretary General of the Andean Community, Alfredo Fuentes Hernández, today called the results of the Third Andean Regional Conference on Employment held in Quito up until Friday, with the participation of representatives of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, “impressive.”

Of all of the agreements adopted, Fuentes drew attention to the commitment to start work in 2007 on skills certification and recognition of the equivalence of degrees, as a strategy for labor training and employment creation, with the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Spain and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency. 

The Third Andean Regional Conference on Employment closed on Friday with the adoption of important agreements and specific projects endorsed at the highest political level for implementation within the framework of the Andean Community’s Integral Plan for Social Development (PIDS). 

Representatives of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile (the latter as an Associate Member Country of the CAN) devoted their efforts during the two-day meeting in the Ecuadorian city of Quito to studying the problems of employment and labor training in the subregion. 

At the close of the meeting, the national delegations decided to give maximum support to advancing specific projects concerning Skills Certification and the Recognition of the Equivalence of Degrees, the development and training of human resources of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in entrepreneurial management and training and the creation of a Network of Andean Offices to provide integral employment services.  These projects are known to have been identified thanks to consulting services provided during the second half of this year by Spanish cooperation. 

All of the participating national delegations signed the final document through the so-called Quito Commitment to Employment.    

The Chilean delegation offered, at the conclusion of the meeting, to host the Fourth Andean Regional Conference on Employment in Santiago in November 2007, an invitation that was accepted with pleasure by all of the participating national delegations.