Address by Dr. Gustavo Noboa, President of Ecuador at the Thirteenth Andean Presidential Council

Valencia, Venezuela, June 23, 2001

It is indeed an honor for me, as President of Ecuador, to be here in Venezuela to participate in the Thirteenth Andean Presidential Council.

The Battle of Carabobo, whose 180^th anniversary we celebrate with this Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council, sealed Venezuela’s independence and gave the basic impetus to the quest for America’s freedom. The ideals of freedom, union, and political and economic integration of the Latin American countries, to which the heroes of our independence, Miranda, Sucre, and the Libertador Simón Bolívar, devoted their lives and efforts, are the wisest principles for guiding our deliberations to reinforce the integration of our nations and peoples and set them on the road to progress, development, and social justice.

This undertaking is growing more difficult, day-by-day. Political and economic experts and analysts from far and wide are in agreement that the economic and cultural globalization process into which mankind has entered in this twenty-first century is inevitable and that it is moving ahead and intensifying at a rapidly growing speed. Our obligation as Heads of State is to lead our countries toward progress amid these rapidly changing conditions. One of our best defenses in this mission is the consolidation and deepening of our integration systems, like the Andean Community.

It is our duty to renew our political support for the Andean integration process which, after 32 years of existence, can exhibit important accomplishments: a Free Trade Area has been formed; the production of and trade in manufactured goods has grown significantly at the intraregional level; the Andean legal order has been reinforced; and progress has been made toward harmonizing economic policies and instruments and institutionalizing the Andean Integration System. We have secured preferential access for our products to the United States and European markets, we are working on the execution of the Andean foreign policy that will enable us to establish more dynamic and mutually advantageous relationships with other countries and country blocs. We are moving ahead with the Community policy for border integration and development, toward the signing of the Andean Community commitment to democracy, toward the adoption of a new intellectual property regime, and with a series of initiatives that will enable us to take better advantage of the Andean market and to lay the groundwork for further subregional development.

The Andean Community must enter the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas well prepared. Thus far, we have been able to negotiate jointly as a bloc and have become the balancing element among the different interests of the hemispheric countries.

Ecuador currently has the lofty honor of chairing the Negotiation Committee of the Free Trade Area of the Americas and today I reiterate our commitment to the integration of the Americas. My country attaches great importance to regional cooperation and in that connection, we have a basic commitment to determine the differentiated treatment to be given to the less developed economies. The costs of integration should be shared, bearing in mind the situation of the weakest, and its benefits should be distributed equitably. This principle of participation by all in the benefits of the FTAA is vital for the new hemispheric relationships and should permanently guide the work of the different negotiating groups.

This Presidential Council should approve concrete and specific orientations and guidelines for moving toward targets and more advanced stages of our Andean integration in order to adjust it to today’s demands and the challenges inherent in building the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

In this connection, we must firmly advance toward the formation of the Andean Common Market, so that it is in place and in operation by the 1^st of January of 2006. We are convinced that the freedom of circulation of services, capital, and people, combined with the freedom of circulation of goods that already exists, will become a moving force for boosting the economic and social development of our countries.

Mr. Chairman:

The social aspects of integration are extremely important to Ecuador. All of our accomplishments in the different spheres of integration, together with those concerning democracy and human rights, should strengthen the Andean Social Agenda.

We are not immune to the problems that plague the different societies in an increasingly globalized world and that are most serious in developing countries like ours.

The Social Agenda is a basic objective of the Andean Community, whose efforts should be directed mainly toward improving education, public health, Subregional physical infrastructure, housing, and the environment –all for the purpose of opening up opportunities for decent employment in order to stem the massive migration of Andean citizens and to definitely improve the standards of living of the inhabitants of our countries.

The Community’s Comprehensive Social Development Plan to which we should commit our efforts, makes it essential for us to simultaneously incorporate a strategy and program of action on sustainable development and the environment, that would enable the Member Countries of the Andean Community to incorporate international provisions into Andean legislation so as to increase the possibilities for trade and tourist exchanges with other countries or groups of countries, as well as involve Andean citizens in the observance of environmental standards.

In this context, Ecuador considers that the Community tourism policy that we will foster at this Meeting will allow the Andean Community to offer the world potentials of all types that will contribute to the Subregion’s integral development.

The adoption of correct, timely, and appropriate policies in the social sector builds up democracy.

Defending the human rights of the citizens of our countries is an everyday task that should occupy our efforts fully.

The Andean Community has an institutional structure that enables it to address the problems of the defense and promotion of human rights with renewed efficiency. The Andean countries should chart the course for Community policy and efforts in this sphere. We must move ahead in drawing up an Andean Human Rights Charter, a commitment stemming from the Andean Regional Seminar "Democracy and Human Rights," that was held in Quito in August 2000. Ecuador will activate the preparation of that Statute and submit a draft of the Andean Human Rights Charter to the High-Level Group of Representatives of the Member Countries, bearing in mind the commitments assumed in the Riobamba Charter of 1980. The capacity of the Andean Community to advance with the development of International Human Rights Law has been reflected in the adoption of National Human Rights Plans by our countries and in the strengthening of the Ombudsmen’s Offices –an open and safe route for improving the protection of human rights in the Subregion.

On the other hand, I am convinced that illegal drug production, trafficking, and consumption is a worldwide problem that seriously threatens the development and safety of our countries and of the international community. It is one of the most harmful and dangerous forms of organized transnational crime that threatens the state of law, distorts the economy, and subverts the public order. Ecuador firmly supports the Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses that is destined to become a key issue of Andean political cooperation and to strengthen and increase the power of the national programs in each of the Andean countries, with full respect for national law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that is carried out through a program of specific actions.

It is extremely important politically, economically, and socially for the Andean countries to rapidly sign and implement a common agricultural policy in order to incorporate agricultural development, the rural environment, and the perfecting and consolidation of the Andean Customs Union for the trade in agricultural and agroindustrial products. This will also make it possible to put into effect other instruments that are inherent to the practice of agriculture, such as an Andean commodities exchange, anti-monopoly legislation, and the financing and consolidation of the Andean Agricultural Policy aimed at consistently taking advantage of the potentials offered by the enlarged Andean market in a sustainable and competitive way.

Mr. Chairman:

Ecuador wishes to thank Venezuela for having exercised the Andean Chairmanship over the past year, while also taking advantage of the occasion to wish Bolivia the greatest success with the mandate and responsibility it assumes as Chairman of the Andean Community for the period 2001-2002, during which it will effectively guide the group’s participation and will enjoy Ecuador’s full collaboration.

Messrs. Presidents:

The challenges and issues to be taken up are many and complex, but I am convinced that with the political will of the Andean Governments and the sovereign determination of our peoples, we will move to more advanced stages of integration for the benefit of the "new Andean citizen," who has a great deal to contribute to America and to all of humanity.

Ecuador considers that this will be possible only if, above and beyond the objectives achieved and the accomplishments thus far, we unite our political wills to redesign the Andean Integration System and restructure it, if necessary, to make it into an appropriate and strengthened instrument that will allow us to put ourselves across to the world with the voice of our Andean identity and in this way to meet the challenges imposed by globalization.

I predict positive and realistic results from this Thirteenth Andean Presidential Council.

Thank you very much.