TheAndean Community (Spanish:Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating acustoms union comprising theSouth American countries (Andean states) ofBolivia,Colombia,Ecuador, andPeru. Thetrade bloc was called theAndean Pact until 1996 and came into existence when theCartagena Agreement was signed in 1969. Its headquarters are inLima,Peru.
The Andean Community has 113 million inhabitants over an area of approximately 3,800,000 km2. ItsGDP has gone up to US$745.300 billion in 2005, including Venezuela, which was a member at the time. Its estimatedPPP of GDP for 2011 amounts to US$902.86 billion, excluding Venezuela.
The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 byBolivia,Chile,Colombia,Ecuador, andPeru. In 1973 the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. In 1976 however, its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Venezuela announced its withdrawal in 2006, reducing the Andean Community to four member states.
Recently, with the new cooperation agreement withMercosur, the Andean Community gained four new associate members:Argentina,Brazil,Paraguay, andUruguay. 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 7 July 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.[5]
The Andean Community andMercosur comprise 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 8 December 2004, the Andean Community (CAN) signed a cooperation agreement with Mercosur and they published a joint letter of intention for future negotiations towards integrating all of South America in aUnion of South American Nations (USAN), patterned after theEuropean Union.[11]
During 2005, Venezuela decided to join Mercosur. Venezuela's official position first appeared to be that, by joining Mercosur, further steps could be taken towards integrating both trade blocs.[citation needed] CAN Secretary GeneralAllan Wagner stated that the Venezuelan Foreign MinisterAlí Rodríguez had declared that Venezuela did not intend to leave the CAN, and its simultaneous membership to both blocs marked the beginning of their integration.[12]
However some analysts interpreted that Venezuela might eventually leave the CAN in the process.[13] As Colombia and Peru signed free trade agreements with the United States, in protest the Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chávez indeed announced in April 2006 his country's withdrawal from the CAN, stating that the Community is "dead".[14] Officials in Colombia and Peru expressed their disagreement with this view, as did representatives from Venezuela's industrial sector (Conindustria).[15]
In spite of this announcement, Venezuela still had not formally completed all the necessary withdrawal procedures. According to Venezuela's Commerce MinisterMaría Cristina Iglesias, the entire process was going to take up five years. Until then, Venezuela and its partners would remain bound by the effects of the community's preexisting commercial agreements.[16]
Exclusive Economic Zones of the member states of the Andean Community. Considering them, the total area of the Andean Community reaches the 6 573 757 km2.
During a visit to Colombia in August 2007, President Hugo Chávez was asked by the presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia to rejoin the Andean Community, and he responded that he would agree.[citation needed] Meanwhile, at that time the Mercosur's relations with Venezuela were weakening as Mercosur was not agreeing with some of the Hugo Chávez's proposals.[17]
Eventually Venezuela achieved the full membership of the Mercosur in 2012, making the Mercosur bigger in number of members than the CAN for the first time.
In addition to CAN, Bolivia is also a member of theWTO,UNASUR, andALBA. Its attitude is considered crucial to relations between UNASUR and ALBA specifically, says Marion Hörmann, since Bolivia is traditionally seen as a mediator between the Andean countries and the rest of South America.[18]
Furthermore, on 7 December 2012, the Bolivian nation was accepted by the Mercosur countries to start the incorporation protocols to achieve the Mercosur full membership in a matter of 4 years,[19] receiving the proclamation of anaccessing member, and further consolidating itself as a strategic geopolitical nation.
The groundwork for the Community was established in 1969 in the Cartagena Agreement
In 1973 Venezuela joins Andean Pact
In 1976,Augusto Pinochet withdrewChile from the Andean Pact claiming economic incompatibilities
In 1979, the treaty creating the Court of Justice was signed, and theAndean Parliament which in principle was located inLima, increated 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 theopen 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
In 1996, the Cartagena Agreement Commission approved the regulatory context for the establishment, operation, and exploitation of the Simón Bolívar Satellite System
In March 1996, through theTrujillo Protocol, institutional reforms were introduced: The Andean Community was created and the Andean Integration System was established.
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 theMercosur was signed inBuenos 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 inMontevideo 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
In April 2006 PresidentHugo Chávez announced thatVenezuela would withdraw from the Andean Community, claiming the FTA agreements signed byColombia andPeru with the United States caused irreparable damage to the community
On 23 March 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Andean Community and theEurasian Economic Union[20]
On 21 February 2020, disputed interim president of VenezuelaJuan Guaidó announcedVenezuela's reentry into CAN[21]
Since 1 January 2005, the citizens of the member countries can enter the other Andean Community member states without the requirement of a visa. Travellers should present the authorities their national ID cards.[27]
Visitors to Venezuela will have to present their passports; they will then receive the Andean Migration Card (Tarjeta Andina de Migración), in which the time of temporary residence in the country is stated.
TheAndean passport was created in June 2001 pursuant toDecisión 504. This stipulates the issuing of apassport based on a standard model which contains harmonised features of nomenclature and security. The passport is effective in Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia (Bolivia since early 2006).
^"Andean Community-MERCOSUR".SICE Foreign Trade Information System. The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. Archived fromthe original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved6 May 2024.
^Marion Hörmann, "Key Role for BoliviaArchived 2011-09-27 at theWayback Machine" D+C Development and Cooperation, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2010/03, 103–105.
.svg)
