Lima, Jan 26, 2002. The Andean Entrepreneurial Advisory Council will meet in Bolivia next week to examine the consolidation of the customs union and actions the sector can undertake to promote private investment and the creation of new jobs.

Convened by the head of Bolivia’s National Chamber of Commerce, Guillermo Morales Fernández, who chairs the Andean Entrepreneurial Advisory Council, the meeting will be opened at 9 o’clock Sunday morning, January 27, at Los Tajibos Hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

This gathering of businessmen will precede the Meeting of Andean Community Ministers of Trade and Integration, Foreign Affairs, the Treasury, Agriculture and Economy that will be held on January 28 and 29 and the subregional Presidential Summit scheduled for January 30.

The agenda for the entrepreneurial meeting will address the Andean integration process, the evolution of the free trade area and a study of the customs union.

As a contribution by the businessmen to Andean integration, the Advisory Council will also look into steps the sector can take to promote private investment and the creation of new jobs.

It is the intention of the Andean Entrepreneurial Advisory Council, upon completing their deliberations on Sunday afternoon, to set down their conclusions and proposals in a declaration to be delivered to the Heads of State during the Presidential Summit.

The Andean Entrepreneurial Council met in Lima on December 11 and 12, 2001 to continue examining scenarios related to the new Common External Tariff (CET).

At that time they voiced the need to have a CET in place as soon as possible that "will be effectively implemented in the five Andean countries and will allow for the existence of equitable trading conditions."

The participants also called for the progressive elimination of the "special customs regimes for intra-subregional trade," together with the "harmonizing of criteria and mechanisms for their application to third countries."