THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

HAVING REVIEWED: Articles 16 and 17 of the Cartagena Agreement, coded through Decision 563 and Decision 458 �Guidelines for the Common External Policy-, the Andean Presidential Council Declarations of Gal�pagos, Carabobo and Quirama, and the Lima Commitment �Andean Charter for Peace and Security, Limitation and Control of the External Defense Expenditures-; and

WHEREAS: The Heads of State of the Member Countries of the Andean Community have reaffirmed in several opportunities their commitment to strengthen the peace, security and cooperation in the subregion, as an indispensable requirement to promote the integral development of the Andean peoples;

To that effect, they commissioned the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to prepare, with the support of the General Secretariat, the guidelines for the Andean Common External Security Policy, giving consideration to the establishment of a peace zone in the Andean Community pursuant to the parameters of the Lima Commitment;

To comply with such commission, the General Secretariat carried out, among others, the activities contemplated in the Commitment of Lima, with the participation of government representatives, experts and broad sectors of the civil society of the Member Countries of the Andean Community;

Decision 458 contemplates as one of its areas of action the adoption of joint measures to promote a culture of peace and the pacific settlement of disputes, the promotion of confidence, specially in border areas, the limitation of armaments and the development of new regional democratic security conceptions;

The Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs established that from an Andean perspective, security is seen as the situation in which the State and society are protected from threats or risks susceptible of affecting the integral development and welfare of their citizens, including also the free exercise of their rights and liberties in a fully democratic environment. In this respect, security is a concept of multidimensional and comprehensive character that involves political, economic, social and cultural matters reflected in the policies of so widely different topics, such as the strengthening of democratic institutions, the Rule of Law, defense, health, environment, economy, economic development and the prevention of natural disasters, among others;

The Declaration on the Security of the Americas adopted in October 2003, within the framework of the Organization of American States acknowledges the multidimensional character of security and the contribution that the subregional and regional integration processes are called to make for the stability of the Hemisphere:

The formulation of the Guidelines of an Andean Common External Security Policy reaffirms the commitment of the Member Countries to continue advancing in their efforts to intensify their political cooperation for the consolidation of the identity and cohesion of the Andean Community, and to strengthen the participation of the Member Countries in hemispheric and world security mechanisms; and

Taking into consideration the agreement adopted in the 2^nd Meeting of the High Level Group on matters of Security and Promotion of Confidence, the General Secretariat has submitted Proposal 124/Rev. 2 on the Guidelines for the Andean Common External Security Policy;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the following Guidelines for the Common External Security Policy:

I. Objectives

1. To confront any threats posed to the security of the Andean Community in a cooperative and coordinated manner.

2. To develop and consolidate the Andean Peace Zone, as an area free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, promoting mechanisms that ensure the pacific settlement of disputes, the building of reciprocal confidence, and that contribute to overcome factors susceptible of generating disputes among the Member Countries.

3. To prevent, combat and eradicate the new threats to the security, and their interrelations, when appropriate, through cooperation and coordination efforts to confront the challenges that such threats represent for the Andean Community.

4. To contribute to the economic development and social welfare of the Andean Community population by reinforcing the security of the subregion.

5. To contribute to the consolidation and the enhancement of the Peace Zone and South American Cooperation within the framework of a South American integration area.

6. To promote the participation of the Member Countries in the definitions and procedures of the collective, hemispheric and world security.

The Andean Common External Security Policy will be based on the following principles.

1. Preservation of the Rule of Law and democracy as the system of government.

2. Promotion and protection of human rights.

3. Application of the humanitarian international law.

4. Abstention from using or the threat to make use of force within their reciprocal relations.

5. Pacific settlement of disputes.

6. Respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each one of the Member Countries.

7. Nonintervention in internal affairs.

8. Respect for the international law and international obligations.

9. Observance of the collective security systems of the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

10. Development and security cooperation.

11. Strengthening of the integration process.

12. Ban on the development, manufacture, possession, display and use of any type of mass destruction weapons, and their transit through the Member Countries.

III. Foundations

1. Peace and security as public property that pursuant to the national legislation the State guarantees to its citizenship.

2. Andean identity and community interests.

3. Territorial continuity of the community area.

4. Solidarity and cooperation among the Member Countries.

IV. Criteria

The Andean Common External Security Policy will contemplate the following criteria:

1. Peace option: Its purpose is to prevent and fight against any threats to security within a democratic and non offensive conception of the External security and to promote the necessary conditions to ensure free and equal opportunities for its population and a favorable environment for its material and spiritual realization.

2. Multidimensional: Includes the threats to defense and to the establishment of democratic institutions and public security.

3. Integrated: The plans and programs to be developed within the framework of the Andean Common External Security Policy are supplemented and mutually reinforced with actions aimed at its economic and social sustainable development, the strengthening of democratic institutions, the promotion and protection of human rights and the achievement of the best competitive terms for the participation of the Member Countries in the world economy.

4. Complementariness: This is a community instrument to strengthen the application of national security policies and to favor, when appropriate, their convergence and harmonization.

5. Cooperative: Seeks to develop a system of relations to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of each one of the Member Countries for the enhancement of confidence and the prevention of tensions or confrontations.

6. Flexible: Its application is adapted to the dynamics of the Andean, regional, hemispheric and world context, and the changes in the perceptions and conceptions on the matter, preserving the coherence of its objectives and actions.

7. Gradual: It allows a gradual progress in the priorities of the community, and the regional, hemispheric and world security agendas, in accordance with the common interests.

8. Preventive: Seeks to anticipate the development of threats to security through early warning and response mechanisms, and the pacific settlement of disputes.

9. Participatory: Acknowledges that security is a task of society as a whole without detriment to the fundamental responsibility of the State. Therefore, it should provide opportunities for the active participation of the several public and private bodies and agents in the decision making process concerning its design, execution, follow-up and verification.

V. Institutional mechanisms

1. The Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs is the body responsible for the definition and coordination of the Andean Common External Security Policy. When deemed convenient, it will hold joint meetings with the Ministers of Defense, and when appropriate, with the competent authorities of the Member Countries for a further dialog and agreement on several aspects of such policy. The Council will contemplate at least once every year the aspects related to the execution of the common external security policy.

2. The Executive Council of the Andean Common External Security Policy, in which Senior Officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense will have a seat, and as appropriate, other competent sectors on security matters, will be responsible together with the General Secretariat of the Andean Community, and other Andean Committees with responsibilities connected with security topics, for the design of operation proposals and community provisions related to this policy and its submission for its consideration by the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The Executive Committee can create the specialized technical subcommittees it may deem pertinent. It will meet at least twice every year.

3. The Andean Security Network will be constituted by political, business, academic, and other organizations of the civil society together with the governmental and intergovernmental organizations of the subregion. It will be in charge of promoting national intersectorial and subregional dialogs in which public and private organizations will accompany the design, implementation and evaluation of the progress made in the development of the Andean Common External Security Policy.

4. The General Secretariat of the Andean Community will be responsible for the follow up of the execution of the Andean Common External Security Policy.

VI. Operation Instruments

The Andean Common External Security Policy will be provided with the following instruments:

1. The Common External Policy, aimed at promoting the international conditions for the compliance with the objectives of the Andean Common External Security Policy, the maintenance of peace and regional and international security, and also a coordinated action in the regional and world disarmament negotiations.

2. The Andean Cooperation Plan against Illicit Drugs and Connected Offenses, Decision 505, and the Operation Programs adopted within such framework.

3. The Andean Plan for the Prevention, Fight and Eradication of the Illicit Traffic of Small and Lightweight Arms in all its aspects, and its Coordinated Action and Operation Plan, Decision 552.

4. The Customs Cooperation in aspects connected with external security and defense.

It will also incorporate to the operation instruments:

5. The Andean Plan Against Terrorism.

6. The Andean frameworks for the legal, police and judicial cooperation.

7. The Andean Framework for the Pacific Settlement of Disputes and the development and application of Measures for the Promotion of Confidence and Security.

8. Other plans and programs that may be established in the future, specially, with a view to fight, among others, corruption, smuggling and the traffic of persons, and also to implement a standardized method for the measurement of defense expenditures.

VII. Forms of Action

The agenda of the Andean Common External Security Policy includes the following forms of action:

1. Community: the actions implemented by the Member Countries or through or by means of the community bodies of the integration process;

2. Subregional: the actions implemented jointly by two or more Member Countries as a result of subregional coordination;

3. Bilateral: the actions exclusively implemented by two Member Countries to comply with national goals and objectives consistent with the Andean Common External Security Policy;

4. National: the actions implemented by a Member Country in its respective territory within the framework of the Andean coordination, with a view to comply with the goals and objectives of the programs included in the Andean Common External Security Policy;

5. External: the coordinated or joint action with the international, regional, hemispheric and world organizations or conferences on matters of security and disarmament.

The agenda of the Andean Common External Security Policy includes cooperation in the following topics:

1. Pacific settlement of disputes.

2. Promotion of measures to foster confidence and security.

3. Promotion of a Peace Culture.

4. Defense expenditures.

5. Fight against terrorism.

6. Fight against organized crime, its activities and manifestations to the detriment of citizenship and state security.

7. Fight against the world drug problem and related offenses.

8. Laundering of assets.

9. Fight against corruption.

10. Prevention, fight and eradication of the illicit traffic of small and lightweight arms in all its aspects.

11. Traffic in persons.

12. Prevention of threats to democratic stability and institutions.

13. Collective, hemispheric and world security.

14. Regional and world disarmament negotiations.

15. Other matters that may be decided by the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

Article 2.- At the community, South American, hemispheric and world level, the Andean Common External Security Policy is executed by the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs applying the different mechanisms of the Common External Policy.

At a national level, the Andean Common External Security Policy will be executed through the competent authorities, pursuant to the national legislation.

Transitory Provisions

Article 3.- To commission the Executive Committee of the Andean Common External Policy to prepare in coordination with the General Secretariat:

Article 4.- To commission the General Secretariat to prepare in coordination with the competent national authorities, international specialized agencies and other cooperation sources, the proposal for an Andean cooperation program against laundering of assets.

Given in the city of Quito, Republic of Ecuador, on July 10, 2004.