Andean Community
From Freepedia
The Andean Community of Nations (in 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 formerly called the Andean Pact and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969.
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 comprise the two main trading blocs of South America. In 1999 these organisations began negotiating a merger with a view to creating a South American Free Trade Area (SAFTA). On December 8, 2004 it was announced the merger would be called the South American Community of Nations, patterned after the European Union.
History
- The groundwork for the Community was established in 1969 in Cartagena Agreement.
- 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
- In 1996, the Cartagena Agreement Commission approved the regulatory context for the establishment, operation, and exploitation of the "Simón Bolívar" 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, 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.
See also: Central American Common Market, Free Trade Area of the Americas, Mercosur, Trade bloc
