Lima, Sept. 21, 2005.- The Andean Community Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, today called upon the international community to support the execution of the projects called for by the Integral and Sustainable Andean Alternative Development Strategy approved last July through Decision 614.

He voiced the call during the presentation of the Integral and Sustainable Andean Alternative Development Strategy at the Lima, Peru headquarters of the CAN General Secretariat in coordination with the Peruvian National Commission for Drug-Free Development and Living (Devida). The Executive President and the General Manager of Devida, Nils Ericsson Correa and Fernando Hurtado, were present at the ceremony, together with members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of international organizations, high-level Peruvian government officials and businessmen.

Wagner stated that the success of this Strategy, approved during the Summit of Andean Presidents last July, will depend on the efforts of the Member Countries, but also on international cooperation. "It is for that reason that I am calling particularly on the European Union and the United States, as well as on international organizations, to collaborate in the Strategy’s execution,” he stated.

He went on to explain that the Andean Strategy reaffirms the principle of shared responsibility and makes it possible to take a comprehensive and sustainable approach to the drug problem by making alternative development a real, effective and participatory instrument for human development and antipoverty efforts that seek to keep the so-called “balloon effect” (illegal drug crop migration from one country to another in response to forced eradication campaigns) from canceling out the results of national policies and strategies.

Nils Erisson Correa, Devida President, for his part, stated that this common strategy would make it possible “to bring age-old cocaine-producing populations into the legal economy more quickly,” and at the same time confront drug trafficking with determination because the Community Decision approving the Strategy is legally binding on the five Andean countries.

In explaining Peru’s participation in the Andean Strategy, Nils Ericsson reported that in its formulation, the Alternative Development Program applied by the country since 2002, following its National Drug Control Strategy for 2002-2007, was considered, together with experiences of other Andean countries.

Devida General Manager, Fernando Hurtado, explained the Strategy’s objectives and principles and the way both it and the Working Plan for its positioning in the short-term from Peru’s perspective, were formulated.