Andean Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Trade to study creation of Common Market

Lima, Feb. 1, 2000. Commitments to create the Andean Common Market by December 31, 2005 at the latest will be examined in detail in Lima by the CAN Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Trade, meeting separately on Thursday, February 3, and jointly on Friday, the 4th.

The Advisory Council of Ministers of Economy and Finance, Central Bank Presidents and Economic Planning Officers will also be attending the Friday meeting, where the Andean Common Market will be the sole agenda item to be taken up .

The intention, as pointed out at the I and II Meetings of Foreign Ministers held in September and December 1999, is to get a clearer picture of the actions and the process needed to reach that goal.

At the meeting on Thursday, February 3, to be opened at 10:00 a.m. at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers will also address the execution of the Common Foreign Policy agenda, the reinforcement of political cooperation among the Andean countries, and the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the CAN and of the European Union planned for February 24, among other items.

The Commission, composed of the Andean Ministers of Foreign Trade and Integration, for its part, will meet starting at 9:30 a.m. at the headquarters of the CAN to examine the advances made toward building the Common Market and the Andean Technical Regultions on maximum sizes and weights of vehicles for international passenger and cargo transportation by road.

The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers is headed by Peruvian Foreign Minister Fernando de Trazegnies and is made up of the Ministers of Bolivia, Javier Murillo, Colombia, Guillermo Fernández de Soto, Ecuador, Heinz Moeller Freile, and Venezuela, José Vicente Rangel, who confirmed their attendance at the meeting.

Also to be attending the cited meetings are Foreign Trade Ministers Carlos Saavedra Bruno, of Bolivia; Marta Lucía Ramírez de Rincón, of Colombia; Roberto Peña Durini, of Ecuador; and Juan de Jesús Montilla, of Venezuela, who will gather under the chairmanship of Peruvian Minister of Industry, Juan Carlos Hurtado Miller.