Lima. May 19, 2005. Andean Community Secretary General, Allan Wagner, today advocated the need for a new social pact that will make it possible to boost competitiveness not only in the economy, but also throughout society, while at the same time it promotes social inclusion in order to provide support for a State “in which democracy is not limited to electoral matters, but also takes the form of effective citizenship.”

He pointed out that one of the major tasks facing the Andean countries is to pave the way –as the Andean Business and Labor Advisory Councils recommend-- for the creation of an Andean Economic and Social Council whose main purpose would be to work out the elements of this new social pact, which is “of basic importance for systemic international competitiveness and social inclusion.”

Wagner made this affirmation on welcoming the participants in the Seminar “Integration and Social Cohesion in the Subregion: Elements for a Community Strategy,” opened yesterday by Ana María Romero-Lozada, Peru’s Minister of Women’s Affairs and Social Development and Chairman of the Andean Council of Ministers of Social Development.

He explained that this new vision of comprehensive development, confirmed by the Presidents at the Quito and Cusco Summits, in one of development in which macroeconomic disciplines and fiscal responsibility are maintained, together with social policies that not only make it possible to reduce poverty and inequality, but also to achieve a socially inclusive competitive position in world trade.

Wagner declared that the Integrated Social Development Program (PIDS) approved last year is the first step taken by the Community to contribute to national efforts to achieve greater social cohesion. Its twenty projects are an important contribution by the integration process to the struggle against poverty, a crucial situation faced by all of the Andean Community countries.

Minister Romero-Lozada, for her part, noted the political commitment assumed last year at the V Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Social Development to make social cohesion and the strengthening of regional and subregional integration spaces viable. “We Ministers pointed out at that time that the viability of social cohesion in our region depends on the coherence and complementary nature of our economic and social policies, the reinforcement of democratic institutions and the design and application of specific social policies to overcome poverty, inequity and exclusion,” she stated.

After reaffirming the agreements adopted on that occasion, she called upon the participants in the Seminar “to determine exactly what specific strategies will make cohesion and social integration possible in our subregion.” She emphasized that “there is no better social policy than an economic policy that distributes the fruits of growth more equitably.”

Mendel Goldstein, Head of the European Commission Delegation in Peru, declared that this seminar demonstrates the will of the Andean Community to advance social cohesion at the subregional level. "The PIDS is a clear expression of political will that points up the fact that regional integration can only be erected on the basis of full social participation and an effort to eliminate exclusion and inequality,” he stated.

Carlos Jarque, IDB Sustainable Development Department Manager, for his part, underscored the need to consolidate aggressive public policies to promote social cohesion and pointed out that “in our societies, efforts to build social cohesion are closely linked to meeting Millennium Development Targets and, in our case, these should be given a prominent place on the agenda for Social Cohesion, together with other important issues."

The Seminar on Integration and Social Cohesion is jointly organized by the CAN General Secretariat, the European Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the Chair of the Andean Council of Ministers of Social Development, with the support of the Andean Development Corporation.