Lima, Aug. 28, 2006. Colombian Foreign Minister María Consuelo Araujo pointed out this afternoon that, for her country “deepening Andean integration is a State policy.” She made this statement at the formal session in which she was received at the CAN General Secretariat, in Lima.

Foreign Minister Araujo added that, for Colombia, “the Andean Community is the most efficient tool for confronting the challenges presented by globalization.” For that reason, she has committed to achieving “a strong, mature Andean Community with an international projection.”

The Colombian Minister also underscored the “vital importance” of the CAN General Secretariat, as the “cohesive element that supports and gives continuity to the process, by providing the necessary internal and external political and institutional conditions for enabling the Andean Community to move ahead with the greatest degree of stability possible,” she maintained.

The acting Secretary General, Alfredo Fuentes, for his part, pointed out that the Andean Community has become a great market for the Member Countries and particularly for Colombia, which exported about US $ 4,166 million dollars to its Andean partners in 2005, representing 46 percent of all intracommunity exports.

In another part of his speech, Alfredo Fuentes stated emphatically that “integration is not an option; it is a need and even an imperative. Your presence today in this hall, Madame Minister, brings us a breath of fresh air and new hope that we will continue to journey together on this path of integration, in the direction demanded by our nations,” he declared.

"The Andean Community has embarked on a new phase of geopolitical projection not only toward the South American economic and political area we hope to build, but also toward the Pacific region as an inseparable part of our future, and toward the construction of closer ties with the world’s most important integration process: the European Union,” he went on to add.

In that regard, he highlighted three important advances in the Andean Community’s external projection: first, the future launching of the negotiation of a fourth generation Association Agreement with Europe; second, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which he called a highlight in the construction of the South American Community of Nations; and last, the invitation extended to Chile by the Andean Presidents, to become an Associate Member of the CAN.

The Colombian Minister --in a declaration to the press-- reported that as the Foreign Ministers of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have proposed, the President Pro Tempore (Bolivia) will call a meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers to take place during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, from this coming September 19 to 23. At that time, the terms under which Chile shall be accepted as an Associate Member of the subregional organization shall be decided.

The Acting Secretary General of the CAN, Alfredo Fuentes Hernández, chaired the formal session, which was attended by Community officials and diplomatic representatives of the Member Countries, CAN associates and observers, and the Representative of the European Union in Peru.