COMMUNITY OF ANDEAN NATIONS ATTEMPTS TO RECOVER AFTER VENEZUELA LEAVES BLOC.
Leaders from the four member states of the Comunidad Andina de Naciones (CAN) met at a June 13 summit in Quito, Ecuador. There they attempted to strengthen the trade bloc after Venezuela's decision to leave it threw the group into crisis (see NotiSur, 2006-05-05). The Andean countries--Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru--have formally requested the US to extend soon-to-expire trade preferences they now enjoy.
The summit in Quito was the body's first since Venezuela announced its "irrevocable" exit from the CAN after Peru and Colombia each signed free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the US.
"The CAN is dead, the US killed it," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, alluding to his disagreement with the trade pacts Colombia and Peru signed and are in the process of ratifying. Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales think the Peru and Colombia FTAs are detrimental to other members of the bloc (see NotiSur, 2006-04-07), which was formed in 1969 and had a total trade exchange of US$9 billion in 2005.
Morales had reportedly tried to convince his ally Chavez to reconsider leaving the bloc, but to no avail. At the summit, Morales called for "unity to strengthen ourselves internally, nationally, and regionally, but unity fundamentally [directed toward] some external powers. Unity before the US to negotiate better or to dialogue better with our peoples, unity before the European Union (EU), unity before the world." Morales said it is "important to save the CAN to benefit our national majorities."
Outgoing Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said that there was a "sense of solidarity, of cohesion" in the Andean bloc, and he backed the call for the US to extend trade preferences. "Every country of the subregion had a different vision and pace for a trade agreement" with the US, said Toledo.
Bolivia was locked out of direct talks with the US during Andean Free Trade Agreement talks (see NotiSur, 2005-05-20), while the US suspended negotiations with Ecuador after the government made a judicial decision to expel US-based petroleum company Occidental (see NotiSur, 2006-06-02).
Nations ask US to extend Andean trade preferences.
The four Andean countries have trade preferences under the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Enforcement Act (ATPDEA), set to expire in December of this year. It was designed in 2002to provide alternative economic opportunities to farmers who might otherwise turn to the cultivation of illicit crops by giving trade preference to...
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