Directory of Economic, Commodity and Development Organizations - table of contents

ANDEAN COMMUNITY GENERAL SECRETARIAT

Secretaría General de la Communidad Andina


        

HEADQUARTERS


General Secretariat of Andean Communicty                  Telephone:   [51](1)411-1400
Avenida Paseo de la República 3895                        Facsimile:   [51](1)221-3329
Lima 27                                                   E-mail:      contacto@comunidadandina.orgg
Perú                                                      Internet:    www.comunidadandina.org


     Secretary General:             ...         Guillermo FERNÁNDEZ DE SOTO
     Directors:                     ...         José Antonio GARCÍA
                                    ...         Héctor MALDONADO LIRA
                                    ...         Richard MOSS FERREIRA         
     General Manager for Operations 
       and Finance:                 ...         Mónica NARANJO MESA

LANGUAGE: Spanish

ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONS

The Andean Community is an economic and social integration organization with an international legal status. It comprises the following countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, and the bodies and institutions of the Andean Integration System (SAI). Its early beginnings date back to 1969, when a group of South American countries signed the Cartagena Agreement, also known as the Andean Pact. The purpose of the Agreement is to promote the balanced and harmonious development of the Member Countries; accelerate the growth of the Andean countries and the creation of jobs; facilitate participation in the regional integration process with the aim of gradually creating a Latin American common market; help reduce the external vulnerability of the Member Countries and improve their position in the international economic context; strengthen subregional solidarity and reduce the differences in development that exist among the Member Countries; and define social policies oriented toward improving the quality of life of different subregional groups and improving their access to the benefits of development.

Over the next three decades, Andean integration passed through a series of different stages. A basically closed conception of inward-looking integration based on the import substitution model gradually gave way to a scheme of open regionalism. The direct intervention of the Presidents in the leadership of the process within the new model spurred integration and made it possible to attain the main objectives set by the Cartagena Agreement, such as the liberalization of trade in goods in the subregion, the adoption of a common external tariff, and the harmonization of foreign trade instruments and policies and economic policy, among others. The progress of integration and the emergence of new challenges stemming from global economic change brought to the fore the need for both institutional and policy reforms in the Cartagena Agreement. These were accomplished through the Protocols of Trujillo and Sucre, respectively. The institutional reforms gave the process political direction and created the Andean Community and the Andean Integration System. The policy reforms, for their part, extended the scope of integration beyond the purely trade and economic areas.

The Andean Community started operating on August 1, 1997 with a General Secretariat, with headquarters in Lima, Peru, as its executive body. The Council of Presidents and the Council of Foreign Ministers were formally established as new policy-making and leadership bodies. The legislative role of the Commission, comprised of the Trade Ministers, was broadened by including Ministers of other sectors. Today, the Andean Community groups together five countries with a population of over 113 million people, an area of 4.7 million square kilometers, and a gross domestic product of approximately US$270 billion. The Community is a subregion within South America with a unique profile and a common future.

COMPOSITION

5 member countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela

STRUCTURE

The Andean Integration System (SAI) is the structure that links up and makes it possible to coordinate the series of bodies, institutions, and agreements that comprise the Andean Community.

  • The Andean Presidential Council is the highest-level body of the SAI.
  • The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and the Commission of the Andean Community are the policy-setting and decision-making bodies.
  • The General Secretariat of the Andean Community is the executive body of the Andean Community which, starting on August 1, 1997, took on, among other things, the functions of the Board of the Cartagena Agreement.
  • The Court of Justice of the Andean Community is the judicial body of the Andean Community.
  • The Andean Parliament is the deliverative body of the SAI.
  • Andean Development Coporation (CAF) and Latin American Reserve Fund (FLAR) are financial institutions.
  • Hipolito Unanue Agreement and Simón Rodríguez Agreement are social institutions.
  • Simón Bolívar Andean University is the educational institution of the Andean Community
  • Andean Business Advisory Council and Andean Labor Advisory Council are the two consultative institutions.

GENERAL PUBLICATIONS

Gaceta Oficial del Acuerdo de Cartagena (contains Decisions of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and the Commission of the Andean Community; Resolutions of the General Secretariat); How To Do Business in Andean Community: Trade and Investment Guide (English and Spanish versions); Treinta Años de Integración Andina: Balance y Perspectivas; Acuerdo de Cartagena; Catalogue and CD-Rom: “Andean Fruits and Vegetables for the World” (English and Spanish versions); CD-Rom: “Comunidad Andina-Andean Community” 1999 (English and Spanish versions); Andrean Apparel for the Third Millenium (English and Spanish version); Las relaciones externas de la Comunidad Andina: Entre la globalización y el regionalismo abierto (Spanish version). "Hacia una política exterior común de la Comunidad Andina" 1999 (Spanish version); "Manuel de diseño para maderas del Grupo Andino" 2000 (Spanish version-reimpresión); "La Dolarización en Ecuador" 2001 (Spanish version). For more information, please see the website, www.comunidadandina.org.

UPDATED:  December 2003

Directory of Economic, Commodity and Development Organizations - table of contents