Lima, Oct. 5, 2005.- The Presidential elections to be held in the five Andean Community countries between December 2005 and November 2006 offer an excellent opportunity to strengthen the culture of dialogue and democratic consensus-building in formulating long-term State policies, Andean Community Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, pointed out.

He made this statement at the ceremony held last night at the Andean organization’s headquarters to celebrate International IDEA’s tenth anniversary. Also present at the event were Lourdes Flores Nano and Kristen Sample, Board Member and Director of the Andean International IDEA Program, respectively, Pepi Patrón, President of the Transparency Civil Association, and Rafael Roncagliolo, President of Democratic Agora, together with other guests, including State Ministers, Parliamentarians and representatives of the Peruvian political class and civil society.

"Societies as fragmented as ours need to build consensuses in order to reach solutions. That is the important task we have set ourselves with the assistance of Democratic Agora,” the program created by International IDEA, Wagner pointed out.

The CAN Secretary General underscored the relationship that exists between integration and democracy, remarking that it is one of long standing that is now reassuming its key role in the agenda for Andean integration. .

He explained that the CAN General Secretariat and Democratic Agora are encouraging the formation of an Andean working committee of political parties aimed at finding means for their modernization and strengthening through dialogue and the exchange of experiences.

Wagner underscored two other matters on the CAN’s current working agenda: the requests received by the General Secretariat, for the first time, from two Andean governments, Ecuador and Bolivia, to support their democratic reform processes, which marks a turning point in the work of the Andean organization.

He explained that on that basis, the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers had agreed ten days ago in New York, at the General Secretariat’s initiative, on an Andean program to support democracy. Its aim will be precisely to organize those efforts systematically and to integrate and maximize them, at the request of a party and with absolute respect for domestic political processes. To that end, he called upon all of those present to “work together within the framework of that program.”

"Let us build a new democratic state in which all citizens feel themselves represented and that operates for the benefit of all,” he added.

Lourdes Flores, in taking the floor, emphasized the existence of International IDEA political training programs that have spread from Peru to the rest of the Andean subregion.

International IDEA is an intergovernmental organization in which civil society participates. Founded in 1995, it promotes sustainable democracy and seeks to improve and consolidate democratic processes worldwide. It also prepares electoral rules and guidelines and offers approaches, opinions and practical instruments to promote democracy.