Caracas, Dec. 6, 2005.- The Secretary General of the Andean Community, Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón, in Caracas, emphasized the need to expedite the Andean internal agenda in order to build the competitive advantages subregional producers, particularly SMEs, require to make better use of the opportunities provided by participation in the world economy and trade agreements with third parties and to ensure that these advantages contribute to economic and social development objectives.

He made this statement in the course of the Workshop “Latin America in World Trade – Winning Markets,” held yesterday in Caracas. The event was organized by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and attended by international experts in integration issues and the organizer’s research team.

Ambassador Wagner explained that the Andean countries are currently advancing an intensive and ambitious agenda of internationalization in all spheres, with a view to guaranteeing the access of their products to the markets of their most important trading partners.

He pointed out that "it is necessary to build an Andean internal agenda in which trade policy and the perfecting of production go hand-in-hand to bring about a widespread enhancement of competitiveness that goes beyond the business dimension and the framework of macroeconomic equilibrium and is effective in improving development and social inclusion."

Wagner also stressed the differences between "free trade agreements” and “integration processes,” by explaining that "although they use similar methods, the objectives they seek are different: they both strive to reduce barriers to trade, stabilize the rules of the game, reduce discretionality in decision-making and create dispute settlement mechanisms, but integration processes, unlike free trade agreements, harmonize market regulations, integrate institutions and procedures, and boost the combination of interests and opinions of their State Parties.

"The final objective of integration processes, moreover --added the Secretary General-- is to contribute to sustainable economic growth by enhancing productivity, equity and social inclusion, environmental sustainability and policy legitimacy through participation in decision-making.”

Continuing his visit to Venezuela, the CAN Secretary General met today, Tuesday, with Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Alí Rodríguez, and with high-level officials of that country with whom he explored several matters, like the deepening of the Andean integration process and the construction of the South American Community of Nations, with a view to the forthcoming Special Andean Summit to be held in Venezuela this coming January 12 and 13.

Alter visiting Caracas, Ambassador Wagner will travel to Montevideo to attend the Summit of MERCOSUR Member States and its Associated States.