Lima, August 23, 2006.- Foreign Ministers Alejandro Foxley (Chile) and José Antonio García Belaúnde (Peru), together with the acting Secretary General of the CAN, Alfredo Fuentes, stressed at the opening this morning of the seminar “Peru and Chile: opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region," held at the CAN General Secretariat, that it is necessary to join efforts and strengths to give the vast subregion shared by the Andean Community Member Countries and Chile a better external presence.

In his welcoming speech, Dr. Alfredo Fuentes stated that the seminar is taking place at a significant moment when the Andean Countries and Chile are engaged in seeking greater and better access to the different markets.

He also emphasized that Chile’s reincorporation into the CAN will make it possible “to strengthen even more the existing ties so that we can further integrate our economies, our academic and business communities, our societies in general and, above all, our democratic systems --all of this in order to contribute to the development and to the fuller participation in the world economy of the vast subregion we share.”

The Heads of State of the four Member Countries, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, it should be recalled, formally proposed to the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, that Chile return to the CAN as an Associate Member, after having withdrawn from the subregional bloc three decades ago. Chile, for its part, announced yesterday that it is studying the different methods for bringing about that association.

Fuentes stated that the Andean Community has progressed significantly in 37 years of integration and that its agenda has been progressively enhanced by the addition of topics like physical and energy integration, the environmental strategy, the social agenda and the entire institutional heritage that is permitting the Community to move ahead in its negotiations with the European Union and to join efforts to build the South American Community of Nations.

In another part of his address, Fuentes pointed up the trade relations that exist between the CAN Member Countries and Chile, which he termed “significant and growing.” Andean exports have almost tripled over the past four years, to reach 1,560 million dollars in 2005.

He went on to hail the expansion of the Economic Complementarity Agreement signed yesterday by Peru and Chile in the Lima Government Palace.

Peruvian Foreign Minister José Antonio García Belaunde underscored the capacity of the Andean integration system to adjust to the new times. "Integration today is a process moving in two directions, one to perfect its internal market and the other to enhance its external presence in the best possible conditions.”

He pointed out that Chile is an important ally in this undertaking that will allow us to make significant joint efforts, inasmuch as it has made more progress in its participation in the world economy.

The Chilean Foreign Minister, Alejandro Foxley, for his part, pointed out that given the recovery by the Asia-Pacific region of its key position on the world stage, our countries cannot afford to remain on the sidelines and continue to follow isolated policies. "Individual efforts, given the size of each of our economies and of their populations, are insufficient to meet this huge challenge,” he stated emphatically.

"The Lone Ranger syndrome is being surmounted and those who do not realize this in time will lose their places on the international scene,” Foxley insisted.

"The time has come to join strategies so that, together, we can carry our products and services to the Pacific Rim. It is not too late to establish a common platform to back up our efforts,” he pointed out as he proposed taking joint action to, among other things, meet the challenge of conquering the Asia-Pacific markets.