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Andean Community

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Image:South-America-CAN.png thumb|States of CAN The '''Andean Community of Nations''' (in Spanish language Spanish: '''Comunidad Andina de Naciones''', abbreviated '''CAN''') is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the ''Cartagena Agreement'' in 1969. Its headquarters are located in Lima, Peru. The Andean Community has 120 million inhabitants living in an area of 4,700,000 square kilometers, whose Gross Domestic Product amounted to US$260 billion in 2002. The Andean Community together with Mercosur comprises the two main trading blocs of South America. In 1999 these organizations began negotiating a merger with a view to creating a South American Free Trade Area (SAFTA). On December 8, 2004 it signed a cooperation agreement with Mercosur and they published a joint letter of intention for future negotiations towards integrating all of South America in the context of the South American Community of Nations, patterned after the European Union. Recently, Venezuela has decided to join Mercosur. Some analysts have interpreted that it may leave the CAN in the process. [http://nytimes.com/2005/12/08/business/worldbusiness/08trade.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1134071479-aiqW6itbwnyvUb26q++KPQ] Venezuela's official position appears to be that, by joining Mercosur, further steps can be taken towards integrating both trade blocs. CAN Secretary General Allan Wagner has stated that the Venezuelan Foreign Minister AlÃ RodrÃguez has declared that Venezuela does not intend to leave the CAN, and its simultaneous membership to both blocs marked the beginning of their integration.[http://www.eluniversal.com/2005/12/08/msur_ava_08A642103.shtml]

History
*The groundwork for the Community was established in 1969 in the Cartagena Agreement. *In 1976, Augusto Pinochet withdrew Chile from the Andean Community claiming economic incompatibilities. *In 1979, the treaty creating the Court of Justice was signed and the Andean Parliament created and the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers were created. *In 1983, the treaty creating the Court of Justice entered into effect. *In 1991, the presidents approved the open skies policy and agree to intensify integration. *In 1992, Peru temporarily suspended its obligations under the Liberalization Program. *In 1993, the Free Trade Zone entered into full operation for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. *In 1994, the Common External Tariff was approved. Image:Andean community uribe.jpg Ã?lvaro Uribe.html" title="Meaning of 300px 300px|thumb|Colombian President [[Ã?lvaro Uribe delivering a speech at the opening of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council, June 27, 2003..html" title="Meaning of thumb|Colombian President [[Ã?lvaro Uribe">300px|thumb|Colombian President [[Ã?lvaro Uribe delivering a speech at the opening of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council, June 27, 2003.">thumb|Colombian President [[Ã?lvaro Uribe">300px|thumb|Colombian President [[Ã?lvaro Uribe delivering a speech at the opening of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council, June 27, 2003. *In 1996, the Cartagena Agreement Commission approved the regulatory context for the establishment, operation, and exploitation of the SimÃ³n BolÃvar Satellite System. *In 1997, an agreement was reached for Peru's gradual incorporation into the Andean Free Trade Zone. *In 1998, the Framework Agreement for the creation of a Free Trade Area between the Andean Community and the Mercosur was signed in Buenos Aires. *In 2000, a meeting of the South American Presidents, at which the Andean Community Heads of State and Mercosur decide to launch negotiations for establishing a free trade area between the two blocs as rapidly as possible and by January 2002 at the latest. *In August 2003, the Andean Community and Mercosur Foreign Ministers, during a meeting in Montevideo at which the CAN delivered a working proposal containing guidelines for the negotiation, reaffirmed their governments' political determination to move ahead with the negotiation of a free trade agreement between the two blocs.

Organization
* Andean Presidential Council * Andean Foreign Relations Ministers Council * Comission * Headquarters (Lima, Peru) * Andean Justice Tribunal * Andean Congress (BogotÃ¡, Colombia) * SimÃ³n BolÃvar Andean University

Secretaries-General
* SebastiÃ¡n Alegrett (Venezuela) 1997–2002 * Guillermo FernÃ¡ndez de Soto (Colombia) 2002–2004 * Edward Allan Wagner TizÃ³n (Peru) 2005–

Membership
The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In 1973 the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. However, in 1976 its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Recently, with the new cooperation agreement with Mercosur, the Andean Community gained four new associate members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. These four Mercosur members were granted associate membership by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in an enlarged session with the Commission (of the Andean Community) on July 7, 2005. This moves reciprocates the actions of Mercosur which granted associate membership to all the Andean Community nations by virtue of the Economic Complementarity Agreements (Free Trade agreements) signed between the CAN and individual Mercosur members. ^{[http://www.comunidadandina.org/ingles/common/mercosur2.htm]}

Free flow of people
From January 1, 2005, the citizens of the five member countries can enter the other Andean Community member states without the requirement of visa. The passengers should present the authorities their national ID cards. Visitors to Venezuela will have to present their passports; they will then receive the Andean Migration Card (''Tarjeta Andina de MigraciÃ³n''), in which the time of temporary residence in the country is stated.

Andean Passport
The Andean passport was created in June 2001 pursuant to ''DecisiÃ³n 504''. This stipulates the issuing of a passport based on a standard model which contains harmonised features of nomenclature and security. The passport is effective in Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela; Bolivia and Colombia will start issuing Andean passports in early 2006.

See also
* Central American Common Market * Free Trade Area of the Americas * Mercosur * South American Community of Nations * trade bloc

External links

- Andean Community official webpage
- BBC - S America Creates Single Market
- News of CAN
- Andean Community and Mercosur [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/International_Organizations.html#Andean Andean Community membership] Category:Trade blocs Category:South America ca:Comunitat Andina de Nacions de:Andengemeinschaft es:Comunidad Andina fr:CommunautÃ© andine nl:Andesgemeenschap pl:Andyjski WspÃ³lny Rynek pt:Pacto Andino
{| class="toccolours" style="margin: 0 2em 0 2em;" |- ! style="background:#ccccff" | Andean Community |- | align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" colspan="2" | Bolivia .html">Colombia _Ecuador | PerÃº .html">Venezuela _Chile (observer) |}

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