The Presidents of
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,
Venezuela, and Peru met in Lima
on June 9 and 10, 2000 at the
Twelfth Andean Presidential
Council.
During the
meeting they placed their
commitment to Andean integration
on record and expressed their
conviction that its
intensification would contribute
substantially to the efforts of
the countries to cope with their
development needs and to attain
a dynamic and profitable
position on the international
scene.
At the same time,
they reasserted the Community’s
choice of an open regionalism,
which has given the process the
necessary flexibility to develop
a Latin American-oriented
regional and hemispheric
strategy within the world
economy. This strategy has made
it possible to increase Andean
trade, while also improving the
potential for national and
Community links with other
countries and country blocs.
In this
connection, they underscored
with considerable satisfaction
the joint negotiation being
advanced by the Andean Community
under a single spokesmanship
with regard to the Free Trade
Area of the Americas and the
conclusion of trade negotiations
with Brazil and Argentina in the
context of the framework
agreement signed by the
Community countries with
Mercosur. They also reaffirmed
their willingness to strengthen
their relations with the
European Union and other blocs.
They expressed
their pleasure at the
celebration of the 30th
anniversary of the Andean
Development Corporation, the
Andean integration movement’s
financial branch and one of the
most important and prestigious
institutions in Latin America,
which that plays a basic role in
the financing of the Member
Countries’ economic and social
development.
The commitments
adopted at the Eleventh Andean
Presidential Council of
Cartagena were reaffirmed in
their entirety: formation of the
Andean Common Market,
implementation of the Common
Foreign Policy, development of a
social agenda, and execution of
a Community policy on border
integration and development,
together with action aimed at
harmonizing and attaining
macroeconomic targets.
With those
purposes in mind, the Presidents
adopted the following:
GUIDELINES:
I. ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE ANDEAN COMMON MARKET
1. The Andean
Council of Foreign Ministers
will exercise the political
leadership, in coordination
with the Andean Community
Commission in the case of
trade and investment
matters, in forming the
Andean Common Market, as a
space for the free
circulation of goods,
services, capital, and
people, which is geared
towards improving human
development in the Member
Countries and strengthening
their competitive position
in the world economy.
2. In
accordance with the
commitment made at the
Eleventh Andean Presidential
Council, the Andean Common
Market should be operational
no later than December 31,
2005.
3. The Member
Countries will accordingly
carry out an agenda of
specific objectives and
actions established at the
Meetings of the Andean
Presidential Council and
subject to annual
scheduling. The results will
be evaluated at the regular
meetings of the Andean
Council of Foreign Ministers
sitting in enlarged session.
4. The Common
Market will be advanced
through the progressive
adoption of commitments
under an overall approach
with an appropriate level of
political cooperation.
5. In the
case of the unimpeded
circulation of goods,
priority will be placed on
consolidating the free trade
area, effectively removing
non-tariff barriers, and
perfecting its operation by
adopting complementary
economic and commercial
disciplines. The perfected
Customs Union must be in
place by 2005.
6. As for the
free circulation of
services, Decision 439 will
be implemented in the terms
and with the deadlines
specified.
7. The
unimpeded circulation of
capital, for its part, will
be achieved through
cooperation and concerted
efforts among the national
organizations operating in
that sector. Removal of
barriers to the movement of
capital is essential if the
Andean Common Market is to
operate and grow.
8. The free
circulation of people will
be addressed progressively
by adjusting national
provisions to the unique
features of the traffic in
businessmen, students,
tourists, and citizens at
large in the respective
border regions.
9. Inasmuch
as the construction of the
Andean Common Market also
calls for the progressive
harmonization of
macroeconomic policies among
the Member States, national
authorities should take the
necessary steps to
accomplish this.
10.
Complementary cooperation
and integration efforts are
needed in order for the
Andean Common Market to
operate fully. These include
harmonizing commercial laws
and regulations, setting up
mechanisms for legal and
police cooperation on civil
and criminal matters, and
establishing mechanisms to
reinforce control and
supervision in all areas.
The Foreign Ministries must
take the necessary action in
this regard.
11. The
Attachment to this Guideline
lists the specific
objectives for the next
twelve months and the
actions that must be taken
in the medium term to have
an operational Andean Common
Market in place by the year
2005.
12. Without
detriment to the previous
Guideline, other actions can
be taken for the cited
purposes.
II. EXECUTION OF
THE COMMON FOREIGN POLICY
13. The
start-up of the Common
Foreign Policy has revealed
the potential created by the
joint efforts of the Member
Countries in the regional,
hemispheric, and global
spheres. We have obtained
important results from
executing that policy, which
underscore the need to
continue building up our
concerted efforts in
international political and
economic forums, as well as
the Andean Community’s
relations with its principal
interlocutors.
It is in this
connection that we express
our pleasure at the signing
of Decisions 475 and 476 and
charge the Andean Council of
Foreign Ministers and the
Andean Community Commission
to continue carrying out the
actions and negotiations
prioritized in the Common
Foreign Policy working
agenda.
We instructed
the Andean Council of
Foreign Ministers to lay
down policy guidelines and
identify specific actions
for cooperation among the
Member Countries in fighting
the worldwide problems of
drugs and corruption more
intensely, reinforcing
security and
confidence-building
measures, and furthering the
effective protection of
human rights and the
practice of democracy in the
Andean subregion.
Andean
Community negotiations with
other countries and country
blocs must be conducted
under the principle of open
regionalism and be situated
within the context and
priorities of Andean Common
Foreign Policy.
14. Given
their situation and the need
to safeguard their
interests, we must join
efforts to defend the
interests of Andean
Communities that have
settled outside the region
for one reason or another
when their human rights,
individual guarantees, or
rights under internationally
recognized labor provisions
are threatened, and protect
them against any racist or
xenophobic acts.
Consular
authorities must therefore
immediately embark upon a
cooperation program for
exchanging experiences and
broadening the coverage of
consular services that
protect Andean citizens by
integrating those services,
whenever possible and
necessary, and communicate
to the authorities of the
country of residence of our
Andean compatriots the
concern of the Andean
countries regarding the
observance of the rights to
which those people are
entitled.
III.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SOCIAL
AGENDA
15. In
light of the important
contribution integration is
called upon to make to our
efforts to contribute to our
countries’ social progress
and notwithstanding any
actions that may be taken
for that purpose under the
leadership of the Andean
Council of Foreign
Ministers, the institutions
belonging to the Andean
Integration System must
submit to that Council for
approval by the next meeting
of the Andean Presidential
Council, a program of
specific activities that can
be carried out within their
respective areas of
jurisdiction for the purpose
of consolidating Andean
integration and helping to
develop the Andean Social
Agenda, particularly the
agenda for implementation in
the border regions.
16. We
wish to emphasize the work
done by the Andean Science
and Technology Committee, in
particular the creation of
the Data Bank on Research
and Development Projects and
the design of the Community
Action Program on Science
and Technology PACYT-2000.
In this regard, we consider
it necessary to entrust the
responsible national
authorities with continuing
the efforts to attain a
steady international
influence in order to
attract the cooperation of
agencies and other
institutions specialized in
the funding of such
projects.
17. Aware
of the need to continue
moving ahead with the
actions entrusted to the
Ministries of Labor in the
context of the Andean Social
Agenda agreed upon at the
Eleventh Meeting of the
Andean Presidential Council,
we decided to establish the
Advisory Council of Labor
Ministers, which will submit
the results of its efforts
to the Andean Council of
Foreign Ministers.
18. Given
the importance to the
subregion’s health, of the
Andean Epidemiological
Surveillance and Emergency
and Disaster Coordination
Network, recently mobilized
in response to natural
disasters in Colombia and
Venezuela, we instructed the
Hipólito Unanue Convention
to jointly establish, with
the Andean Community General
Secretariat and the Andean
Development Corporation,
mechanisms for the expansion
and technological
development of that network
so that it will be equipped
to meet the health
challenges posed by the
twenty-first century,
IV. OTHER ASPECTS
OF THE INTEGRATION PROCESS
19. The
guidelines and provisions
emanating from the Andean
Council of Foreign Ministers
call for the execution of
programs to develop the
Border Integration Regions.
Those programs will be
prepared with the support of
the General Secretariat and
any financial assistance
that may be obtained from
the CAF, IDB, and other
cooperating institutions or
countries. To help in
setting up those programs,
the Data Bank on Border
Development Projects will be
established in the General
Secretariat with IDB and CAF
support. The Regional
Consultative Group will
study the resulting projects
in order to define a
strategy for their
financing.
20. In
light of the importance of
physical integration within
the Andean subregional space
and of the need to advance
toward the implementation of
a Community Physical
Integration Policy, we
instructed the Andean
Development Corporation
(CAF) and the Andean
Community General
Secretariat to make a study
that will allow the Andean
Council of Foreign Ministers
to draw up that policy
during the second half of
this year.
V. SPECIAL
MEETING OF THE ANDEAN
PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL
We decided
that the Andean Presidential
Council would hold a special
meeting in November or
December 2000 to implement
the agreements reached at
the Eleventh Andean
Presidential Council in
Cartagena for addressing the
following issues:
- The
future of the Andean
Community’s political
integration.
-
Evaluation and coordination
of foreign policy actions.
- Treatment
of the "volatile capital"
problem.
- Follow-up
of the Andean Social Agenda.
In testimony of
which, we sign this Act on June
tenth of the year two thousand.
|
(Signed)
HUGO
BANZER SUAREZ
President of the
Republic
of Bolivia
|
(Signed)
ANDRES
PASTRANA ARANGO
President of the
Republic
Of Colombia |
|
(Signed)
GUSTAVO
NOBOA BEJARANO
President of the
Republic
of Ecuador |
(Signed)
ALBERTO
FUJIMORI FUJIMORI
President of the
Republic
of Peru |
|
(Signed)
HUGO
CHAVEZ FRIAS
President of the
Bolivarian Republic
Of Venezuela |
APPENDIX 1
INDICATIVE
ACTIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF THE
ANDEAN
COMMON MARKET
In building the
Andean Common Market, the Member
Countries will execute the
following program of
illustrative actions, which will
be subject to periodic review:
I.
PERFECTION OF THE TRADE IN GOODS
A. Removal
of Barriers
1.
Perfect the working of
the Andean Agricultural
Health System by
developing Community
provisions, improving
national bodies with
jurisdiction in that
area, and encouraging
them to establish closer
relations with each
other.
2.
Develop Andean
provisions to ensure
that national systems of
standardization,
conformity verification,
and metrology, together
with product control and
surveillance practices,
comply with that System
and do not constitute
obstacles to trade.
3.
Take measures to
harmonize and facilitate
customs procedures.
B.
Andean Common Agricultural
Policy
1.
Adopt and carry out an
Andean Common
Agricultural Policy.
C. Common
External Tariff
1.
Design and adopt a
Common External Tariff
(CET) in order to
perfect the customs
union.
D.
Smuggling and other customs
crimes
1.
Perfect the procedures
and system for
exchanging information
in the fight against
smuggling and other
customs crimes, on the
basis of the Decision
adopted.
II. PERFECTION OF
THE TRADE IN SERVICES
A.
Liberalization of Services
1.
Ensure the complete
liberalization of
services and the growth
of intra-Community trade
in services.
B.
Transportation
1.
Perfect and implement
the Community
transportation policy.
III. UNIMPEDED
MOVEMENT OF CAPITAL
1. Remove
barriers to the movement of
capital within the Andean
Community.
2. Adopt a
system of cooperation
between Member Country Stock
Exchanges.
IV. FREE
CIRCULATION OF PEOPLE
A. Free
circulation
1.
Accept the use of a
National Identification
Document as the only
requirement for the free
circulation of people
from one Community
country to another,
starting with Andean
tourists.
2. Set
up an integrated
subregional
identification system
for standardizing
national identification
documents.
3.
Establish mechanisms to
facilitate residency and
the acceptance of job
offers.
4.
Approve common
provisions on labor,
retirement, health, and
job safety.
5.
Approve the right to
residency.
V. HARMONIZATION
OF MACROECONOMIC POLICIES
1. Define
and implement criteria for
macroeconomic harmonization.
2. Study a
mechanism for stabilizing
economic crises.
VI. BORDER
INTEGRATION AND DEVELODPMENT
1. Create
a Multilateral Fund for
Border Integration Projects.
2. Promote
programs for developing
border integration regions
created in the Andean
Community.
3. Develop
and perfect the Andean
Community Data Bank on
Projects and promote the
adoption of mechanisms for
executing projects approved
by the competent
authorities.
VII. OTHER
ACTIONS COMPLEMENTARY TO THE
INTEGRATION PROCESS
A. Civil
Area
1.
Speed-up and streamline
the system of
cross-border
notification or transfer
of legal or extra-legal
documents.
2.
Take measures to obtain
cooperation in
collecting evidence.
3.
Facilitate the
acceptance and execution
of verdicts on civil and
commercial matters.
4.
Promote the
compatibility of
provisions applicable in
the Member States to
conflicts over laws and
jurisdictions.
B.
Criminal Area
1.
Facilitate the creation
of an Andean Legal
Network consisting of
points of legal contact
among the Member
Countries.
2.
Adopt an Andean
Framework Agreement on
the Transfer of
Condemned Persons from
one Member Country to
another.
C.
Commercial Area
1.
Harmonize commercial
legislation,
particularly that
referring to Business
Associations.
D.
Police Area
1.
Approve measures for
cooperation and joint
initiatives on matters
such as the training and
exchange of officials,
use of equipment, and
scientific police
investigation.
2.
Promote interlinkage
agreements between
competent authorities.
3.
Create an integrated
subregional network on
the investigation and
documentation of
organized crime and the
preparation of the
pertinent statistics.
APPENDIX 2
2000-2001 ACTION
PROGRAM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE
COMMON MARKET
I.
PERFECTION OF THE TRADE IN GOODS
A. Removal
of Barriers
1.
Adopt a provision for
the mutual acceptance of
quality certifications
based on the suitability
of the systems for
evaluating conformity.
2.
Take measures to
simplify customs
procedures.
3.
Harmonize health
legislation.
4.
Conduct a Community
program to improve
competitiveness in
production by taking
advantage of economic
complementarities among
Member Countries.
B.
Andean Policy on Competition
1.
Amend the provisions on
dumping and subsidies
for imports from non
Member Countries of the
Andean Community.
2.
Approve the amendment of
provisions to prevent or
correct distortions in
competition caused by
practices in restraint
of free competition.
C.
Adopt a Community regime for
Public Sector Procurements.
D. Update
the Community Industrial
Property Regime.
E. Common
Andean Agricultural Policy
1.
Adopt the Common
Agricultural Policy.
F. Common
External Tariff
1.
Complete the studies for
adoption of the CET
covering the Andean
System of Price Ranges,
Special Customs Regimes,
and anti-dumping and
countervailing duties.
In doing so, it is
necessary to bear in
mind the multilateral
commitments assumed by
the Member Countries and
the negotiations under
way with third parties.
G. Safeguards
1.
Conduct studies to
evaluate the economic
impact of Andean
safeguards, with a view
to their perfection, and
draw up a proposal for
adopting a Community
agricultural safeguard
mechanism applicable to
third parties.
II. PERFECTION
OF THE TRADE IN SERVICES
A.
Liberalization of Services
1.
Complete the inventory
of restrictions on
services and adopt the
corresponding regulatory
provisions.
B.
Transportation
1.
Complete the inventory
of measures that are
detrimental to the
sector, with a view to
deregulating
intra-Community
international sea
transportation.
2.
Establish principles and
criteria to facilitate
the cross-border flights
of subregional
companies, so that
aeronautical authorities
may bilaterally
designate the points of
operation based on those
criteria.
3.
Guarantee the unimpeded
circulation of vehicles
authorized to provide
international road
transportation service
in the Andean Community
by removing the
restrictions on free
circulation.
4.
Draw up Technical
Regulations on the Road
Transportation of
Dangerous Cargoes.
5.
Start studies for
developing a Community
Policy on Transportation
by all modes.
6.
Update the Provisions
for use of the Andean
Road System.
C.
Telecommunications and
Information Technologies
1.
Approve Community
Provisions on Electronic
Trade.
2.
Harmonize the
requirements for
granting Authorized
Licenses and the
procedures used by
Telecommunication
Services for common
definitions.
3.
Establish Community
standards for
interconnecting Member
Countries.
4.
Harmonize the use of the
Radio Spectrum,
Numbering, and Numerical
Portability.
5. Set
up Centers of Excellence
in the Andean Community.
6.
Allocate Satellite
Broadcasting and
Satellite Fixed Service
Plans.
7.
Approve a Program to
promote the Global
Information Society.
D.
Financial Services
1.
Draw up and adopt the
Decision to Harmonize
and Liberalize Financial
Services.
E.
Professional Services
1.
Adopt the timetable for
accepting professional
licenses.
III. FREE CAPITAL
MOVEMENTS
1. Complete
the studies for establishing
a Cooperation System of
Member Country Stock and
Commodity Exchanges.
IV. FREE
CIRCULATION OF PEOPLE
1. Accept
each Member Country’s
national identification
documents at the Community
level.
2. Prepare
an inventory of obstacles
and barriers to the
unimpeded circulation of
persons between Member
Countries and their
residency.
3.
Harmonize migratory
requirements for students,
businessmen, investors, and
artists.
4. Make a
comparative study of the
Member Countries’
socio-labor legislation.
V.
MACROECONOMIC POLICY
HARMONIZATION
1.
Identify conditions that
will make it possible to
design a process for
harmonizing Member Country
macroeconomic targets.
2. Develop
a Common Regime for
Promoting and Protecting
Investments.
3. Draft a
proposal for updating the
Decision on double taxation.
VI. BORDER
INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
1.
Approve a Community
provision on Border
Integration Regions.
2. Set up
Binational Centers for
Border Service.
VII. OTHER
ACTIONS COMPLEMENTARY TO THE
INTEGRATION PROCESS
1. Approve
framework agreements on
civil matters and letters
rogatory.
2. Adopt
an Andean Framework
Agreement on judicial
assistance in criminal
matters.
3. Approve
an Andean Framework
Agreement on extradition
between Member Countries.
4. Create
an Andean Police Network to
reinforce cooperation in the
fight against drugs, the
slave trade, organized
crime, and the trade in
stolen vehicles.
5. Strive
to harmonize provisions,
particularly for fighting
organized crime.
6. Adopt
mechanisms for cooperation
between polices forces and
other specialized services
with coercive functions, in
crime prevention, placement,
and investigation operations.
7.
Reinforce police cooperation
in the processing and
exchange of pertinent
information.
APPENDIX 3
2000-2001
MINIMUM
COMPLEMENTARY WORK PROGRAM FOR
THE INTEGRATION PROCESS
I. ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSERVATION
1. Convene
a meeting of high-level
national environmental
authorities in order to
conclude activities oriented
towards the adoption of a
strategy on environmental
conservation and sustainable
development.
II. MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE TO THE
INTEGRATION PROCESS
1. Perfect
the Community strategy for
negotiation with the FTAA.
2. Prepare
a program of specific
actions to be taken by
Andean Integration System
bodies and institutions to
reinforce the integration
process and the Common
Market.
3. Design
and execute a program to
boost the competitiveness
and complementarity of
Andean production sectors
and to help develop new
business in the service
sector.
4. Promote
strategic alliances for
defining an Entrepreneurial
Promotion Program that would
exert an influence in
countries and regions that
have signed commercial and
cooperation agreements with
the Andean Community.
5.
Intensify the Community
Action Program on Science
and Technology, thereby
permitting the growth of
internally generated science,
the promotion of
technological innovation,
and the enhancement of
public and private
institution efficiency by
establishing international
cooperation agreements and
arrangements for that
purpose.
6.
Disseminate the challenges
and accomplishments of
integration among the Andean
nations in order to create
an integration culture,
using the available media
for that purpose.
