Address by the Chairman of the Ministerial Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar at the Thirteenth Andean Presidential Council
(Unofficial version, transcript of the speech)

Valencia, Venezuela, June 23, 2001

I would first like to thank the President of Venezuela for having received us in this lovely and flourishing city on the 180^th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo that initiated the great quest for freedom that was won on the battlefields. I would also like to greet the President of Bolivia, General Banzer, the incoming Chairman of the Andean Community, and to express the hope that his term of office during the next twelve months, drawing its inspiration from integrationist and Andean ideals, will bring us ever closer to the aggrandizement of our Andean Subregional integration project.

It is a pleasure to find myself among you, Messrs. Presidents, in fulfillment of the lofty mission entrusted to me by the President of Peru, Dr. Valentín Paniagua, of representing him at this important Andean meeting that brings us together once a year in an effort to achieve the Bolivarian ideal of a great united nation.

I would like to start my words by sharing with the Andean Presidents and with all of you who are present today, the satisfaction of the Government of Peru at having held a democratic and transparent election that has been recognized as exemplary by the international observers who shared the last few weeks of it with us. The Government of Peru has been amply rewarded for its efforts to make the voting process a safe one by the results of that election, which clearly reflect the people’s will and which have been a source of satisfaction to the Latin American countries that followed the process closely.

Messrs. Presidents:

Over more than three decades, the Andean Community has represented a challenge for our nations in our quest to achieve a Subregional horizon. In that context, integration, on the one hand, is the result of an effort to put together a Community space that will contribute to our capacity for participating more efficiently and dynamically in international economic processes; and, on the other, represents a resource for making us better equipped to meet the needs of our people, including the creation of new jobs and the promotion of trade and investments.

The Andean Community confronts new and greater challenges in the present international context. In our daily activities, we must strive to overcome problems that make our intrasubregional trade increasingly significant. We are constantly challenged by the need to consolidate the political and commercial potential of our countries as a community. Conscious of these matters and of the need to present a strong and united stand in our negotiations, we decided in 1999 to take effective steps toward preparing the guidelines for an Andean Common Foreign Policy. Since then, armed with more defined and more clearly directed aims, we have sought to highlight the presence of our Community by taking coordinated and joint action in several different forums and addressing shared problems; we have, likewise, strived to establish and strengthen new Community relations with important countries and country blocs.

A case in point is our desire to achieve closer political and trade relations with the countries of the Southern Cone that would permit us to further our aim of positioning ourselves more efficiently and advantageously in the hemisphere. In another, and no less important sphere, the Government of Peru, aware of the problem of illegal drugs that heavily affects our countries, has promoted the preparation of a Community plan for the control of drugs and related offenses. I have the pleasure of inviting the Foreign Ministers to Lima, so that we may launch the joint effort that was born at the Presidential Meeting in Cartagena and that is today one of the focal points of Andean political cooperation. I have the certainty that this plan not only constitutes a substantial advance in the effort to control this scourge, but is also the clearest example of our capacity for orchestrating common measures to deal with problems of enormous social, political, and economic importance.

Messrs. Presidents:

Our joint action in the international arena is also reflected in the coordinated efforts we are making as part of a Community strategy to secure the renewal and expansion of the United States Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) and Venezuela’s incorporation into that instrument.

We must make every effort to get the United States Congress to approve the renewal of the Act and its expansion to encompass textiles and made-up garments with regional inputs, in addition to other significant products.

Likewise, and based on the principle of shared responsibility, we must step up our coordination and efforts in order to guarantee the renewal of the Andean Generalized System of Preferences granted by the European Union.

Gentlemen: As an Andean citizen, I welcome and approve the two decisions that consolidate the first but decisive steps toward the free circulation of people: the recognition of national identification documents and the creation of the Andean passport. These decisions are landmarks on the road to the establishment of a regional space where we citizens will be able to circulate freely as an expression of our common identity.

Messrs. Presidents:

Allow me to conclude by expressing my firm conviction that the welfare of our citizens is directly linked to the capacity we demonstrate for structuring a mechanism of growing efficiency and more closely attuned to the concerns and interests of our societies. It is for that reason that over the months that I have had the honor of serving in my country’s transition government, we have strived, despite the immense task we were given, to clearly prioritize our commitment and to identify ourselves with the ideals of our Andean Community. It is the responsibility of all of us to further this transcendental undertaking. Thank you very much.