Lima, Oct. 22, 2004 In his message to the Andean Community, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez underscored the importance of acting together. “We can accomplish more if we are united,” was the phrase that marked the contents of his speech today in a formal session at the CAN.

In the course of a State Visit to Peru, President Uribe was officially received this afternoon at the headquarters of the CAN General Secretariat, in the presence of high-ranking Peruvian government officials, Ambassadors of the Member countries, and representatives of the Andean Integration System, among others.

The Colombian President pointed that reaching an equitable agreement with Mercosur is one of the results of having moved ahead together. "On our own, we would not have advanced in the FTA negotiations with the United States and the agreement with Mercosur would have been difficult and complicated,” he emphasized.

He invited the Andean countries to make the promotion of electricity integration and of the infrastructure projects that link up the region, like the great South American waterway and the Pan American highway, a common undertaking.

Uribe also drew attention to the need for the Andean Community to help get the IMF to finally make sweeping changes. “Infrastructure projects, particularly those designed for the region’s integration, must be excluded from the accounting of this multilateral organization,” he stated emphatically.

Nothing can be accomplished with the IMF if we each speak for ourselves alone. “The Andean Community must stand behind each of us, if hopes of that kind are to be voiced. And in the case of building infrastructure, he stressed, I believe the time has come to move from words to action,” he stressed.

President Uribe went on to ask the Andean Community to explore the possibility of signing free trade agreements with Central America and the Caribbean, the European Union, Canada, and China. “This is an absolute necessity. Let us not lose any more time,” he implored.

It would be troubling if both Central America and the Caribbean and the CAN would each have an FTA with the United States, but no agreement between themselves, he explained. “I don’t want to even imagine how the situation would be: that United States products would enter Central America and the Caribbean and our countries duty-free, while barriers would be raised between the countries of Central America and the Caribbean and our countries. That would be a distortion of the integration processes,” he warned.

The President drew attention to the need to progress from unilateral concessions to permanent agreements, so that investors can enjoy long-term legal certainty.