Lima, April 28, 2000. Andean Community (CAN) Secretary General Sebastián Alegrett admitted that the countries of the subregion "are facing difficult times," but expressed his trust in the "definite signs of recovery" that are reflected in the "expectations of economic growth and increased trade that could reach a figure of some 5.3 billion dollars by the end of the year."

Alegrett was interviewed by the Peruvian CPN radio station on the occasion of the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs and of trade, which closes today in Lima. This body has been entrusted with drawing up the draft agenda for the upcoming Presidential Summit scheduled to be held in Peru in June.

CAN General Secretariat figures cited by Alegrett point to the "significant growth" of the intra-Community exports of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru "during the initial months of 2000 as compared with the same period in 1999."

Colombia increased its sales to its Andean partners by 47 percent, Ecuador by 70 percent, and Peru by 16 percent. Unofficial figures for Bolivia and Venezuela indicate a growth in worldwide exports of 22 and 4 percent, respectively, in the first quarter of 2000.

The increase in Colombia’s exports was attributed to the recovery of its sales to Bolivia by 100 percent, to Peru by 93 percent, and to Venezuela by 66 percent, during January and February 2000.

Over the same period and as compared with January and February of 1999, Ecuador’s exports to Peru rose sharply by 162 percent, those going to Venezuela increased 46 percent and those targeting Colombia, 31 percent.

In Peru’s case, there was a growth of 48 percent in its exports to the Colombian market, 11 percent in those for the Venezuelan market, and 7 percent in goods going to Bolivia.

The CAN Secretary General reported that the five countries have reaffirmed their commitment to establish an Andean common market by the year 2005 at the latest. For that reason, the Lima meeting studied the most important tasks that will be required in the short and medium term in order to reach that goal.

According to CAN General Secretariat statistics on the performance of the key economic indicators of the Andean countries, annualized inflation from March 1999 to March 2000 dropped to 17.3 percent, while the average inflation of the five countries declined to 1.8 percent in March.

In the CAN as a whole, there was a loss in March of 140 million dollars in net international reserves held by the central bank because of drops of 194 million dollars in Ecuador, 56 million dollars in Venezuela, and 50 million dollars in Bolivia.

Colombia and Peru, on the other hand, recorded increases of 141 million dollars and 19 million dollars in net international reserves, respectively, in March.

During that same month, the international prices of zinc, Venezuelan oil (on the spot market), and sugar rose, while copper, silver, lead, gold, tin, fuel oil, coffee, and fishmeal prices dropped.