OAS

DECISION 459
Community Policy on Border Integration and Development

THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS,

HAVING SEEN:

Chapter XI of the Cartagena Agreement, the Act of Guayaquil (Ecuador) of the X Andean Presidential Council, and the "Bases for a Community Policy on Border Integration and Development," adopted on April 16 of this year in Lima by the High-Level Group on that subject;

WHEREAS:

In keeping with the effort to perfect and reinforce the subregional integration process, the Andean Presidential Council has instructed the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers to intensify border integration and development;

Consolidating this process in the Andean Community calls for improving the quality of life of the inhabitants and modernizing the institutions located in border areas, in consonance with the progress made toward building the Common Market, starting-up a Social Agenda, and implementing the Common Foreign Policy;

The Andean Community requires the implementation of a Community Policy on Border Integration and Development as an essential element for strengthening and consolidating the subregional and regional integration efforts;

It is desirable for the bodies of the Andean Integration System to contribute to this undertaking by setting up a stable High-Level Working Group comprised of compentent national authorities on this subject, which would help to advance and follow-up the implementation of this Community Policy;

DECIDES:

CHAPTER I

PRINCIPLES

Article 1.- This Community Policy is geared toward the following ends:

- Consolidating subregional confidence, peace, stability and security;

- Intensifying the relations of solidarity and cooperation among Member Countries on the basis of mutual benefits;

- Developing the economic complementarity of the Andean countries in their border integration zones by first putting to use their respective comparative advantages;

- Contributing to the social and economic development of the Border Integration Zones (BIZ); and Consolidating subregional integration and contributing to its regional influence.

CHAPTER II

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Article 2.- The following General Guidelines shall orient the execution of this Community Policy:

- It is a part of the basic Andean Integration Agenda;

- It is based on existing bilateral actions and national policies and is complemented and enlarged by the incorporation of the element of subregional development;

- It is aimed at incorporating border zones as dynamic territorial spheres of the integration process that contribute to the balanced and harmonious development of the subregion;

- It respects the cultural identity of the border populations and promotes their integration by helping to strengthen links of understanding and cooperation among them; and

- It marks out, designs, and organizes the Border Integration Zones (BIZ), as well as the basic scenarios for execution of the programs and projects that have been prepared to respond to the specific needs of each territorial sphere.

CHAPTER III

OBJECTIVES

Article 3.- The basic objective of this Community Policy is to enhance the quality of life of the inhabitants and the development of their institutions within the border areas of the subregional Member Countries.

Article 4.- The specific objectives of the Community Policy of Border Integration and Development are:

- To facilitate the free circulation of persons, goods, capital, and services over border crossings through Community efforts with regard to: physical infrastructure, customs, migrations, and the harmonization of Member Country provisions and legislation.

- To further the economic development of the Border Integration Zones (BIZ), taking into consideration the unique features of each BIZ in the strategies that are designed to ensure the creation of jobs, increase earnings, and raise the living standards by promoting viable production activities and encouraging microenterprises and small and medium business.

- To ensure that actions are taken to meet the need for health, educational, labor training, and environmental maintenance and conservation infrastructure in the Border Integration Zones.

- To reinforce dialogue, consultation and cooperation among authorities in the Border Integration Zones so that joint actions may be defined to advance integration and economic and social development, as well as to consolidate peace, stability and security in the subregion.

CHAPTER IV

INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND MECHANISMS

Article 5.- The Community Policy on Integration and Border Development will be directed by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, with contributions from the Commission, the Advisory Council of Ministers of Economy and Finance, and the corresponding Community bodies, as appropriate.

The High-Level Working Group for Border Integration and Development is hereby created under the coordination of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Member Countries, with the Andean Community General Secretariat as its Technical Secretariat. The Member Countries give their assurance that their competent national sectors will participate actively in this effort. The High-Level Working Group will be responsible for proposing to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and coordinating the action programs and plans needed to carry out the Community Policy on Border Integration and Development.

The High-Level Working Group will be supported by the binational mechanisms that exist in the Member Countries, as well as the Andean Regional Advisory Group coordinated by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF).

Promulgated in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on the twenty-fifth of May of nineteen ninety-nine.