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CAN Presidents express their
commitment
to give renewed momentum to
Andean integration
Lima, July 29, 2011. Presidents
Evo Morales Ayma of Bolivia,
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón of
Colombia, Rafael Correa Delgado
of Ecuador, and Ollanta Humala
Tasso of Peru, yesterday, in
Lima, expressed their commitment
to strengthen and give renewed
momentum to the Andean
integration process, in the
conviction that it is making
important contributions to Latin
American integration.
In the Declaration of Lima
issued at the Eighth Meeting of
the Andean Council of Presidents
held at Peru’s Government
Palace, they reaffirmed their
commitment to the process of
harmonization and dialogue among
the various regional and
subregional integration
mechanisms, particularly
MERCOSUR, UNASUR and ALADI, with
a view to reinforcing and giving
a boost to Latin American
integration.
The Andean leaders also
expressed their agreement on the
need to undertake the revision
of the institutional structure
and operation of the Andean
Integration System.
During his transfer of the CAN’s
Pro Tempore Presidency to the
Republic of Colombia, the
President of Bolivia stated that
it is important to relaunch the
Andean Community and to carry
out an in depth restructuring of
this 40-year-old institution.
“Nonetheless, --he added--
listening to the discussions of
the various crises brought on by
capitalism, I feel that it is
important to emphasize just how
this organization can contribute
to the countries of South
America, Latin America and the
world.” He underscored the fact
that the Andean Community is not
only a trading bloc, but goes
beyond that and that for that
reason under his country’s Pro
Tempore Presidency a special
boost was given to citizen
participation.
On assuming the Pro Tempore
Presidency, the President of
Colombia, for his part,
indicated that he agreed fully
with the need to rethink the
Andean Community. He stated
that the world, South America
and the CAN have evolved. “We
must rethink where we are and
where we want to go,” he
stressed, declaring that he
assumes as a mandate the
promotion of reflection for a
reengineering of the CAN as the
Andean Integration System.
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