Andean Community

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Andean Community
CAN

Flag of the Andean Community

States of the CAN
  • Member States
  • Associated States
  • Observer status
  • Spanish name Comunidad Andina de Naciones
    Organization type regional political and economic cooperation
    Seat of the organs * Lima (headquarters)
    Chair annually alternating between member states
    Secretary General Jorge Pedraza
    Parliamentary Assembly Andean Parliament
    Member States 4 :
    Associate members
    Official and working languages

    Spanish

    founding

    October 16, 1969 ( Cartagena Agreement )

    Currencies

    nationally different, aiming for monetary union

    www.comunidadandina.org

    The Andean Community (formerly Andean Pact or Andean Group , Spanish Comunidad Andina de Naciones , abbreviation: CAN ) is an international organization in South America. It consists of the member states Bolivia , Colombia , Ecuador and Peru and aims at the economic , political and social integration of these countries.

    Member States and Associated States

    Member states are:

    associated states are:

    States with observer status are:

    former member states are:

    history

    The attempts at economic integration in South America took shape in 1969 with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement (Andean Pact) on May 26th, which came into force on October 16th of that year. The Andean Pact initially comprised Bolivia , Chile , Ecuador , Colombia and Peru . Venezuela joined on January 1, 1974, Chile withdrew from the Andean Pact on October 30, 1976. The main reasons for the conclusion of the Treaty of Cartagena were, on the one hand, that the Latin American Free Trade Area ( ALALC ) established by the Treaty of Montevideo in 1960 was stagnating; on the other hand, the smaller member states of the ALALC wanted to use a subregional merger to keep the development lagging behind the large countries ( Argentina, Brazil, Mexico) to catch up.

    The Cartagena Agreement was successively modified and expanded and culminated in 1997 with the entry into force of the Trujillo Protocol , a reform of the Cartagena Agreement signed in 1969 to establish the Andean Pact, with the establishment of the Andean Community. Associated with this integration system are the states of Mexico , Panama and Chile , as well as the member states of Mercosur since July 7, 2005. Venezuela left on April 22, 2006. Chile became an associate member on September 20, 2006.

    An imperfect customs union (with transitional and derogations) has existed between the member states since 1994 . The members Ecuador and Colombia have a common customs tariff for goods from third countries and a uniform nomenclature. Peru and Bolivia do not have the same external tariffs as Colombia and Ecuador. Peru suspended its membership in the customs union in the early 1990s due to trade disputes with Colombia and Venezuela (because of allegedly illegal subsidies for the domestic export industry) and is therefore not yet a member of this customs union.

    There was no common position among the member states of the Andean Community regarding the signing of a free trade agreement with the USA. Only the three member states Colombia, Peru and Ecuador started negotiations with the USA. Although these three countries originally agreed to negotiate jointly with the US, the governments have not been able to strengthen their negotiating position by developing joint positions. On December 8, 2005, Peru concluded bilateral negotiations on a free trade agreement with the USA as the first country in the Andean region. Colombia followed in 2006 with the signing of a bilateral free trade agreement with the USA. In response to the bilateral free trade agreements between Colombia and Peru with the United States of America, which Venezuela viewed as a violation of regional integration policies, the Venezuelan government terminated its membership in the community in 2006 and left after a transition period of five years left the Andean Community on time in April 2011. Ecuador suspended negotiations with the US in 2006. The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa , elected in November 2006, ruled out a free trade agreement with the USA for his country.

    Institutions

    Formally, the institutions of the Andean Community are modeled on those of the European Union , but they have never achieved a comparable level of supranational integration. The cooperation between the states in the Andean Community is still characterized by intergovernmentalism .

    Andean Presidential Council

    The Andean Presidential Council is the highest and also the governing body. It consists of the heads of state and government of the member states, who usually meet once a year in the state that holds the presidency. The presidents of those states which have been granted observer status on the basis of association agreements also take part in its meetings. The Andean Presidents' Council defines the general political objectives for the integration process and provides the necessary impetus in areas that are of common interest. Not only the communitized matters are addressed, but also the areas of intergovernmental cooperation, such as the common foreign policy of the CAN. Furthermore, he ensures the coordinated cooperation between the organizations and institutions of the integration system in order to achieve the common goals. He is also responsible for evaluating the development and results of the integration process. Against the background of the new, cosmopolitan orientation of the integration process, the Andean Presidential Council must deal with political questions relating to the external relations of the CAN. He performs his steering function by commenting on the reports, initiatives and recommendations of the organs and institutions (“Pronunciamientos”) and issuing guidelines (“Directrices”) to them so that his political objectives are implemented.

    Andean Parliament

    The Andean Parliament is composed of members elected by the national parliaments of the member states. It has no legislative competence and only has an advisory role.

    Andean Community Commission

    The Commission is responsible for drawing up proposals for Community policies and for implementing Council decisions. It is made up of five members who, however, also hold government offices in their countries of origin.

    General Secretaries

    Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar

    In 1985 the Andean Community founded the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar and has been promoting it ever since with the aim of promoting the integration of the Andean countries in the field of university education. UASB currently has locations in Sucre , Bolivia (since 1985), Quito / Ecuador (since 1992), Caracas / Venezuela (since 2005) and regional offices in Cali / Colombia and La Paz / Bolivia.

    aims

    The Andean Community's regional agenda is essentially set by the presidents of the Andean countries at their summits. The priorities and their order change depending on the rotating chairmanship.

    Political goals

    The main aim of the political agenda is to define a common foreign policy. The federal states agreed on this concept in 1998. At national and international level, the CAN endeavors to bring the positions of the individual countries closer together in order to adopt common positions.

    Police and judicial cooperation in the fight against organized crime also plays an important role. A common position in the field of drug control led in 2001 to the adoption of the Andean Cooperation Plan to combat illegal drugs and related crimes.

    Economic goals

    A common internal market is sought. The aim is to introduce a common external tariff, which so far only exists in rudimentary form, to create a common agricultural policy , to align certain legal provisions (competition, investment protection, double taxation), to harmonize certain data such as statistics and to comply with certain convergence criteria for macroeconomic policies (similar to the Stability and Growth Pact in the EU ). Not only the goods, but also the people should be able to move freely.

    Even if not expressly mentioned by the Cartagena Agreement, the Art. 51 lit. d planned harmonization of the exchange, currency, financial and tax policies of the Andean countries indirectly shows that the CAN is also aiming to establish an economic and monetary union in the long term . The economic and monetary union is seen as the most perfect form of integration, since it implies the gradual merging of the member state economies. In the case of an economic and monetary union, the member states also operate a uniform economic policy, especially in the areas of financial and monetary policy, and have a single currency.

    As far as external relations are concerned, there are numerous international trade negotiations on the agenda. There is a right to speak with one voice in various fora: in most international fora, in trade negotiations with Mercosur, in negotiations on the renewal of trade preferences granted by the United States and the EU . In addition, the CAN expressed the wish to start negotiations with the EU on an association agreement, which is primarily intended to counterbalance the FTAA. Like Mexico , Mercosur and Chile, the Andean countries want to expand their trade relations over the long term through free trade agreements.

    Language and passports

    The common language of the member states is Spanish . The "Andean Pass" was created in June 2001, and the member states agreed to issue it from 2005. The passports are 88 × 125 mm in size with rounded corners and the envelope is burgundy with gold-colored lettering. On the passports of the member states, "Comunidad Andina" is written above the name of the respective state, similar to the EU.

    meaning

    The Andean Community is America's third largest area of integration after NAFTA and Mercosur . However, the CAN is significantly smaller than the Mercosur. After Venezuela left the CAN, it lost even more importance. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez justified his country's resignation with the signing of bilateral trade agreements with the USA by Colombia and Peru.

    The comparatively low importance of the Andean Community is also shown in the fact that the comparatively rich Chile has so far preferred an association with Mercosur to a membership in the CAN. However, the preference of the two Latin American economic blocs changes depending on the political economy. In the meantime, Chile has taken steps closer to the CAN again, as it sees its free trade intentions better guaranteed, which it can afford due to its strong economic structure. For Chile, full accession to Mercosur would not be profitable either, since the common (from Chile's perspective higher) external tariff would damage the competitiveness of its economy.

    The exports of the Andean countries are not very diversified and consist largely of raw materials and products of the first processing stage. Colombia exports coal , minerals , coffee and cut flowers . Bolivia mainly exports minerals, but is also seeing increasing gas exports . It should be noted, however, that Bolivia's energy exports mainly go to Mercosur. It mainly exports agricultural products to the CAN. This is the reason for President Evo Morales' current tightrope walk between CAN and Mercosur. Ecuador mainly exports bananas , petroleum and shrimp .

    Geography and resources

    The South American Andean region encompasses a multitude of different climatic and geographical dimensions. Although all four countries have a share in the Andes mountain range and in the Amazon basin , they sometimes differ significantly with regard to further geographical conditions. These differences are partly responsible for the fact that the political and economic interests of the countries within the Andean Community z. T. diverge significantly.

    All Andean countries have significant natural resources that are still largely underutilized, such as biodiversity potential , water resources and marine resources. Mineral resources are also abundant.

    population

    The Andean Community represents a culturally and linguistically comparatively homogeneous area. Although the four countries have different indigenous peoples, they all have the same (official) language (Spanish) and a similar historical background, as they were part of it until the 19th century of the Spanish colonial empire. These similarities led them, led by the liberator Simón Bolívar , to seek the establishment of a common state, which due to internal rivalries between the generals of Bolívar came about only between Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, while Peru and Bolivia continued to exist as independent states. The dream of a “ Greater Colombia ”, also known as the “Bolivarian Dream” (sueño bolivariano) , went down in history and now represents the philosophical basis of integration between the Andean states.

    The countries are similar in terms of development tendencies: They all have contained population growth , progressive urbanization and a relatively low average population density .

    See also

    literature

    • Laurence R. Helfer and Karen J. Alter: The Andean Tribunal of Justice and Its Interlocutors: Understanding Preliminary Reference Patterns in the Andean Community . In: New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 41 (2009) pp. 871-930. ( PDF )
    • Ronald Köpke: Implications of the EU's trade agreements with Central America and the Andean countries . Berlin 2006. ( PDF )
    • Werner Miguel Kühn: The Andean Community: legal aspects of international relations between the European Union and Latin American integration systems in the age of the new regionalism . Aachen: Shaker , 2003. ISBN 3-8322-2102-6 .
    • Johannes Winter and André Scharmanski: Are the Andean states ungovernable? Causes of the political crisis in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru . In: Zeitschrift Entwicklungspolitik 14/2005, pp. 30–34. ( PDF ).
    • Martin Zimmek: Integration processes in Latin America: Current challenges in Central America and the Andean region . Discussion Paper C 153. Bonn: ZEI, 2005. ( PDF ( Memento from May 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))

    Web links

    Commons : Andean Community  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. Venezuela formally leaves the Andean Community. In: amerika21. April 22, 2011, accessed April 22, 2011 .