Speech of Alejandro Toledo, President of the Republic of Peru, on the occasion of the Swearing-in Ceremony of the Secretary General of the Andean Community (CAN), Ambassador Allan Wagner Tizón
Lima, January 15, 2004

It is a great satisfaction for me to be present in this ceremony in which a distinguished fellow countryman and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of our Government, Allan Wagner, will assume the position of Secretary General of the Andean Community.

My presence here this morning is driven by two motivations: to ratify my conviction on the Andean integration, the Latin American integration, an open integration, an integration that is ready for self-evaluation; and, secondly, to express my gratitude and to welcome the appointment as Secretary General of the Andean Community of a highly esteemed professional. My presidential diplomacy relies significantly on my Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an institution like the Central Reserve Bank, that has important strengths and has been able to adapt itself to the new demands of a competitive and globalized world.

Allan Wagner is assuming the position of Secretary General at a very special time, at a time when the Andean Community is implementing an updating and strengthening process in order to face the challenges posed by integration and the changes occurring in the international scenario.

I wish to emphasize the effort displayed by the Andean Community to properly place itself in the new and changing scenarios of these last years. This is probably the breaking point of the Andean Community; the openness, the ability to re-define itself. These changes should not be understood as if we were neglecting the main objectives of the process; that is, to promote a well-balanced and harmonious development of the member countries, under equal conditions, and to reduce external vulnerability.

The Andean Community has consolidated itself as one of the most advanced integration schemes; with a fully consolidated legal framework, it is a well known and decentralized institution. There has been significant progress in aspects such as border integration, social programs, common foreign policy, trade between its members, free movement of people, worker protection, among others.

Nowadays we are facing plenty challenges. My friend, Allan Wagner, let me put this in quotes: “no one is able to choose the political time to rule”. Now is your turn to lead this institution, in the middle of great expectations, to direct this institution and place it once again in a competitive, demanding, and not always fair world. Our challenge is to make our nations grow in a sustainable and equitable manner. The strong social expectations have forced us to break the traditional economic schemes. After twenty years of readjustment, the Latin American region, the Andean Community, will not be able to wait fifteen years more in order to achieve sustainable economic growth rates and the “dripping” effect, in order to generate more employment and to improve income distribution.

Thus, our challenge, depending on the investment capital we are able to attract, is to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth, capable of generating employment, increasing family income and reducing poverty.

Secondly, we need to redefine our social development projects and programs. We need to make more and better investments; we need to give priority to the investment of our scarce public resources. We need not only to redirect our social welfare programs to cover those living under extreme poverty conditions, but also to invest more and better in health, education, infrastructure and agriculture programs. Social development must go hand in hand with inclusion policies, particularly for excluded native and Amazon populations.

Thirdly, we must be daring and attack corruption firmly. It is very expensive in economic terms and very discouraging for a sub-region or for a continent that is trying to recover the credibility of its public institutions. Let me repeat what I mentioned some days ago in Monterrey: the Andean Community countries, the Latin American countries, the countries of the world in general, cannot be used as refuge of corrupts, particularly, of those who take advantage of a public position and steal, perpetrate acts of corruption and then hide. We have proposed at the Monterrey Summit, the need to reach an agreement in real terms on how to prevent public officers, who assume through political means the responsibility to lead the destiny of their nations, from perpetrating acts of fraud, robbery and then hiding.

Finally, we have a major challenge to face, which is to penetrate the markets in Asia, Europe and United States. We are presently in the process of achieving a Free Trade Agreement with United States, and we are working on that same direction with the European Union. The Chairman of the Italian Parliament, yesterday, after consulting the Prime Minister Berlusconi, has expressed his country’s support to the effort displayed by Peru in order to achieve a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. We have now the support of Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and other countries.

Nevertheless, these bilateral actions should not distract our attention from the Andean Community integration efforts. We cannot move towards a bilateral relationship at the expense of the efforts we need to display for the consolidation of the Andean Community and this is why I am here today.

There are additional challenges that we must face, for example, the negotiations that are presently being carried out with Mercosur to create a South American Free Trade Zone, the search for an agreement of association with the European Union that would include a Free Trade Agreement, the decision taken by the United States in that sense.

However, the Andean Community has presently set about the task of implementing an updated internal agenda, to face successfully the so called second generation of policies focused on the social aspect of the integration process.

Among those present here, we have renowned important figures who gave birth to this idea of Andean integration. Their experience should be capitalized on. There is a lot to learn from past experience; there is a lot to capitalize on about the new perspectives of open integration of the sub-region. Based on these optimist perspectives, I welcome the decision of the Andean countries to appoint a Peruvian representative as Secretary General, not only because the headquarters of the General Secretariat are located in our Capital City, but because of the importance that our country grants to the Andean integration as a strategic, valid and effective option.

Ambassador Allan Wagner needs no further presentation. His professional and diplomatic credentials, as well as his support to integration, are widely known and his public service in Latin America is outstanding. I am proud that he was part of my cabinet. Allow me to repeat what I said some weeks ago at the Presidential Palace: my Government has lost a great collaborator but the Andean Community has won a Secretary General who enjoys great prestige and the initiative, willingness and working capacity required to effectively direct the integration process to which we are all presently committed.

Dear friends, I would like now to express the recognition of my country to the excellent work accomplished by Ambassador Guillermo Fernández de Soto, who has efficiently contributed to open new perspectives for the integration process, updating its agenda and promoting an agreement and an effective dialogue between the member countries. Our friend, Ambassador Fernández de Soto, has been required by his country to assume important responsibilities, and we sincerely wish him the best success.

The challenges are here for all to see. May God enlighten your work, Mr. Ambassador, may God bless the Andean Community and the Latin American integration.