Lima, July 5, 2006.- As part of the new Araucaria XXI Program, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) and the Andean Community General Secretariat this afternoon, in Madrid, presented an Environmental Action Plan for the CAN that will provide support for the preparation of the Andean Climate Change Strategy and the Andean Water Resource Management Plan, among other things. 

In a special ceremony held at AECI headquarters, the Secretary General of the Andean Community, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, thanked the Spanish government and the environmental authorities of the CAN Member Countries for their efforts of the past two years that have been successfully incorporated into this new Action Plan.   

Wagner pointed out that the Action Plan --the first of its kind in South America-- is a valuable tool for channeling the efforts of the Andean countries and of the Spanish cooperation agency into environmental actions in the subregion.  The coordination and execution of policies to improve environmental management will be conducive to sustainable development and will contribute to the implementation of the Andean Environmental Agenda in general. 

He explained that under the annual operating plans, four yearly disbursements in the neighborhood of one million euros each will be made to carry out activities in the areas of natural capital management (protected areas and integrated water resources management); environmental management – ecoefficiency (climate change); social cohesion (environmental education and institution building); and the sustainable use of environmental goods and services (tourism and biotrade), among others.

“I am certain that the Action Plan’s implementation over the next four years will prioritize the sustainable use of the subregion’s natural resources, improve the people’s quality of life and consolidate its use as a mechanism for the Andean countries’ participation in the world economy,” the CAN Secretary General announced.  

Ambassador Wagner went on to stress that the CAN and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding the previous day to support democracy and social cohesion for a four-year period subject to renewal and involving annual financing on the order of between three and five million dollars. 

The Secretary General of the CAN explained that the Memorandum seeks to reduce poverty and bring about more equitable societies in the Andean countries, based on the CAN’s strategic areas for action and the 2005-2008 Guiding Plan for Spanish Cooperation, through broad cooperation between the two institutions in areas like governance and social dialogue, educational and scientific development, sustainable environmental management, territorial development and tourism.   

He stated that the Memorandum provides for close coordination between the Parties; coordination of actions with other regional and national programs and with other financing sources; cofinancing insofar as the budgets permit; and joint assessment and supervision. 

The Secretary of State for Spanish International Cooperation, Leire Patín, and the Secretary General of the Andean Community, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, signed the Memorandum of Understanding yesterday, Tuesday the 4^th, at the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, in Madrid.