Quito, September 8, 2003

It is a great privilege for me to be here at the invitation of Mayor Paco Moncayo, the foremost authority of this World Heritage City of Quito and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Ibero-American Strategic Urban Development Center.  I am deeply convinced that Andean integration today, more than ever, needs new actors who will contribute to our aim of making our countries important players in the world economy. 

None of you, Messrs. Mayors, is unaware that our integration movement is at a crossroads at present.  At the heart of this unavoidable situation lie a series of centrifugal forces stemming both from our countries’ difficult economic, political and social transition today and the existence of differences over development models and strategies for international alliances. 

As I had the opportunity to point out at the recent Quirama Presidential Summit, in Colombia, the central governments of our countries, as the signers and founders of the process, are now faced by the task of preserving its spirit, as the basic condition for the continued existence of the association and its conversion into the prospect of a second generation of policies that I proposed one year ago and which all of the Presidents have generously welcomed. 

On that promising occasion of the Andean Summit, I drew attention to the following:

In the course of the year I have presided over the Andean Community General Secretariat, we have moved toward a new agenda that will determine the future efforts of the Community.  Our Social Agenda, Common Foreign Policy, Common Market, South American Physical Integration and Sustainable Development are now the basic pillars of the great project envisioned by Bolivar almost two hundred years ago and which is about to celebrate its 35th birthday. 

We have also been able to agree, our Presidents showing the same will, that despite differences in emphasis given by our countries to their strategies for international insertion, there are no exclusive platforms, but, rather, a sum of options –Mercosur, FTAA, the United States, Europe– that we must address creatively, but without relinquishing the common heritage that we have built up over the past three decades. 

This is the great accomplishment our governments have the obligation to safeguard, above and beyond the formal aspects of our integration project.

As the days pass in this enthralling political adventure, however, my certainty also grows that if our integration does not receive "new blood" on which to draw, we will run the risk of seeing the operation of the organic system that unites us decline heavily.  

Therein lies the importance taken on at a key moment for our region, by the autonomous and sovereign decision of Andean cities to build their own network for the exchange of ideas and cooperation. 

As the Mayor of my birthplace, Dr. Antanas Mockus so aptly put it at the preparatory meeting in Bogotá, the possibility of exchanging experiences in regard to "urban operations" is indicative of just how important the operation of Andean cities as a network is for learning how to innovate and boosting innovation in public acts. 

In the new global economy in which we find ourselves at present, longstanding economic and political models no longer hold sway.  Today, flexible production systems  embodying a great deal of mobility within national territories prevail due to the force of events, as does the reforming of the central state to bring decision-making more into line with the allocation of resources to territories, with a view toward responding more realistically to the growing demands of the citizens.  

In this context, cities and regions now take force as players in the global networks and, at the same time, as "natural" scenarios for our countries’ governance and competitiveness. 

And this is a frequent occurrence, despite the central governments, which have seen their legitimacy threatened by a formal democracy that has shown itself to be ineffective in guaranteeing social cohesion and economic development.  The local and the global have become just two sides of the same coin. 

Conscious of this overwhelming trend, the Andean Presidents, in an act of modern thinking, instructed the General Secretariat to

"…proceed with studies complementary to those being conducted by the CAF under the Andean Competitiveness Program (PAC) and the South American Regional Infrastructure Integration Initiative (IIRSA), to enable it to put forward proposals to the Member Countries for developing and furthering regional Andean policies to enhance competitiveness and productivity, particularly in the spheres of technology, industry, services and physical infrastructure, in order to win spaces in the international markets…".

This is, without a doubt, the most perceptible approach by our Presidents, in the 34-year-life of the Cartagena Agreement, to the fact that Andean investments and trade originate in or have as their destination a part of the coastal territory or interior of our countries;  and, as a result, that many of the possibilities for deepening the integration process –which still holds a large potential-- should be developed by our cities and regions, where the modernizing of production in our countries is most visible.

The answer to the dilemmas of urban employment are to be found in Medellín’s fashion industry, the growing shift to the service sectors in Bogotá and Caracas, the new challenges posed by Santa Cruz’s agribusiness, the worldwide potential of Otavalo handicrafts or the enormous possibilities offered by the informal production complex of Gamarra, in Lima, and not only, as in the past, in the distant macroeconomic complexes of the capital cities. 

At the same time, the Presidents, in another explicit mandate, instructed the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers to:

"propose the elements to serve as the basis for the possible construction of a governance agenda for the Andean Subregion that would consider the political, economic and social challenges and allow for the promotion of social inclusion and equity, as well as of credibility, in democratic institutions"

Citizen safety, the appropriate provision of collective services, the democratizing of the public space, better quality education and the building of a citizen culture are now, thanks to decentralization, --reluctantly accepted by many of our central government officials-- a local responsibility that requires communication and learning mechanisms between our mayors and with the widest variety of local agents.  I have no doubt whatsoever that the key to our countries’ democratic governance may be found at this level and in these areas. 

For that reason, I have not hesitated to enthusiastically hail the creation of this Andean cities network from the very beginning of the process and, at the same time, to offer the assistance of the Andean Community General Secretariat on all matters you deem necessary, based on a deep respect for the organization the mayors choose to give it.

In this connection, I would like to support the proposal put forward at the meeting in Bogotá, regarding the possibility that this network also become, in the representative form approved by the mayors, an Andean Community consultative body at the highest level.  Its function would be to further the action that is taken as a result of Presidential instructions to promote the competitiveness of Andean cities and regions and democratic governance. 

I propose, however, that we go beyond this.  We must convert this scenario for dialogue, for which purpose I offer the Andean Community General Secretariat, to make the Andean Cities Network a platform for strengthening our regions and our cities as political actors in our integration effort, with a capacity to influence the direction to be taken by the process.  Only in this way will it be possible for this integration to reach the citizens of our countries, an aim that is still to be accomplished in the framework of the guidelines laid down by the Cartagena Agreement. 

It is with this conviction that I convene the Mayors to seal this alliance, with well-defined short and medium-term goals, at a Summit of Andean Mayors and Governors, which we would hold in Lima this coming November as part of the Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in enlarged session.  This would set a new course for this exciting political project  into which Andean integration has been converted. 

As Professor Manuel Castells has aptly stated, the role of cities and regions in the Information Era is to be generators of innovation and wealth.  But even more so, they must be the means to link up technology and quality of life in an interactive system, a great network –of continuing intercommunication—in order to produce a virtuous circle of not only economic, but also social and cultural improvement.  It is to this objective that we should dedicate our efforts with deep conviction, from this new and promising sphere of integration –the Andean Cities Network-- , whose birth I celebrate with you today.