Overview: In May 1969, the representatives of the governments of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile held a meeting in Cartagena city of Colombia, and discussed the realization of economic integration in the small region. On the 26th of May, the "Agreement for the Economic Integration of the Small Region" was signed in Bogota, later known as the "Agreement of Cartagena". The agreement took effect on the 16th of October of the same year. As all members are the countries along the hillsides of the Andes Mountain Range, the organization is also known as the Andes Group or the Andes Treaty Organization. On Feb.13, 1973, Venezuela joined the treaty organization. On Oct.30, 1976, Chile withdrew from the organization. In September 1992, Peru terminated its undertaking of obligations for the partnership countries and in January 1996 the Peru Government announced its all-round joining in the Andes Integration System, taking up all responsibilities as a member state. Mar. 9, 1996, the name of the organization was changed to the present one "The Andes Community" (La Comunidad Andina).

Aim: To promote the balanced and harmonious development of the member states by making full use of the regional resources so as to abolish the tariff-barriers among the member states and form a common market, thereby speeding up the process of economic integration. According to the regulations of the organization preferential treatment is given to Bolivia and Ecuador.

Member States: Five countries (January 2001), namely Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Countries or international organizations which have had their observers appointed in the organization include: Argentina, Egypt, Australia, Austria, Paraguay, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Finland, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay, Spain, Italy, India, Britain, Israel, the Republic of Korea, American Development Bank, European Union, International Labor Organization, World Health Organization, American States Organization, and Panama, which is a country with a permanent observer accredited to the organization.

Headquarters: It is based in Bogota, the capital of Colombia.

Publications: The Andes Group ( Grupo Andino), a monthly magazine in Spanish.

Organizations: 1. President Council (Before 1995 it was called the Cartagena Treaty Commission): the supreme decision-making organ to decide the development direction of economic integration with its meeting held once a year. 2. Foreign Ministers Council: Made up of the foreign ministers of all member countries with meetings held twice a year at least to coordinate the foreign policies of the member countries. 3. General Secretariat: It is an executive body of "La Comunidad Andina" in its replacement of the Cartagena Treaty Commission, and it has the right on behalf of the "Comunidad" to open a dialogue with other integrated communities. The secretary-general is elected among the foreign ministers of the member states with his terms of office being four years, who is allowed to stay at the most no longer than another 4 years. During his terms of office the secretary-general is not permitted to hold concurrently any other post, who should not be require, or to accept directives of any government or international organization. Should he commit serious mistakes he shall be dismissed from the post subject to the unanimous consent of all member states. 4. The Comunidad Andina Committee: composed of the plenipotentiaries appointed by the presidents of all member states. Together with the Foreign Ministers Council, the Committee is in charge of working out policies for economic integration, coordinating and supervising the implementation of the policies, and also has the right to call an enlarged meeting of other ministries to study and map out policies of the related ministries. 5. The Andes Parliament: Established on Oct 25, 1979, it is the consultant body of the Comunidad Andina. It consists of the representatives with member states, and each member country has five representatives appointed by its parliament. Terms of office of representatives should not exceed five years. The parliament holds its regular meeting once every year, and its headquarters and standing secretariat are stationed in Bogota.

Main Activities:

In May 1979, the presidents of the five member countries signed Cartagena Letter of Authority, which extended activities of the Comunidad Andina ranging from the economic field to the political field. In September, the Andes Group promulgated a joint statement at the sixth summit meeting of the nonaligned countries, calling for their adherence to the fundamental principles of the nonaligned countries. In October, the presidents or their representatives of the five countries signed the "Panama Minutes", to support the new treaty signed between the Republic of Panama and the USA on the Panama Canal.

In April 1982, a joint statement of the five countries was announced on the armed clashes between the Argentina and Britain over the sovereignty of Malvinas, to give full support for the stand of Argentina, and to denounce the economic sanctions imposed upon the Argentina by the European Union.

In January 1983, the Comunidad Andina Committee decided to set up an entrepreneur's advisory committee and a labor consultative committee in order to attract private enterprises of member countries to participate in the development of economic integration. In March 1983, the Andes Parliament lodged a strong protest against and condemned severely the interference by foreign countries in the Central American affairs. In July, the Andes Court was officially established, with its main task to arbitrate disputes and also the right to exercise sanctions on the member state, which has failed to carry out the obligations included in the treaty.

In May 1984, the Andes Parliament passed the Lima Declaration, and pointed out that the creditor and the debtor nations should take the joint responsibilities for the foreign debts owed by the Latin America Region. It also called the developed countries to adopt a flexible and realistic attitude towards the issues concerning foreign debts when the negotiation was reopened. In February 1986, ministers of economy of the five countries worked out the Urgent Program Outline for enlivening internal trade in the small region and passed the policy to negotiate the revision of the Cartagena Agreement. In addition, the principle for revising the common rules for utilization of foreign funds was also worked out.

In May 1987, the governments of the five countries signed a "Protocol for Revising the Andes Agreement". In the field of trade and tariff, the five countries decided to practice an exceptional tax-levy system on certain "Sensitive Products" among themselves, and impose a limited "Trade Control System" on part of the products, stipulating that the government of the member country has the right to adopt its own policy on foreign investment, and decide the sectors in which the foreign loans can be invested, and the government of member state has the right to decide the proportion for foreign enterprises to send their interests out of the country, so as to replace the restriction on the proportion for sending out the interests as stipulated in No. 24 Resolution of the past.

In July 1988, the Comunidad Andina Committee sent a delegation to visit the member states, to urge the governments of the five countries to strengthen consultations, coordinate their positions actively but steadily develop economic integration and absorb more private enterprises in their participation in the integration.

In May and December 1989, the Andes Group held two summit meetings respectively at Cartagena, Colombia and Galapagos Is., Ecuador, and adopted a statement, which called all member countries to coordinate their stands, adopt practical steps to accelerate the economic integration.

In March 1990, the Comunidad Andina Committee announced that the five countries would lower the tariffs for foreign goods from the original minimum of 110% to that of 50%, and the tax categories from the nineteen to seven. In November, the fourth summit meeting adopted the "La Paz Outline", which set the goal for the five countries to realize the establishment of a free trade zone as of Jan. 1, 1992 onwards.

In December 1991, the sixth summit meeting approved the agreement for the establishment of the free trade zone, and decided to adopt the unified tariff for foreign goods as of Jan. 1, 1992 onwards.

In April 1992, the seventh summit meeting was indefinitely postponed owing to the break of the diplomatic relations between Peru and Venezuela. In June, the program for establishing a regional free trade zone was forced to put off, thus the Andes regional integration faced a serious crisis. In September, Ecuador and Bolivia accepted the unified tariff standard for foreign goods, and Colombia and Venezuela abolished the price subsidies for export. From 1993 onwards, the Andes Group became the first free trade zone in Latin America and in the world as well, that were composed of the developing countries, and adopted the unified tariff policy (with the exception of Peru).

In 1994, Peru partially restored its member state status. In May, the five member states reached an agreement on the unified tariff for foreign goods. The agreement regulated an average tariff rate of 11.8% as of January 1, 1995 for the goods outside of the free trade zone, and divided the tariff into the following four grades: 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% according to the goods categories. In November, the five countries signed a common tariff agreement for foreign goods, which stipulates that the agreement would enter into force as of Feb.1 1995, and thus the Andes Tariff Alliance declared founded.

In March 1996, the eighth summit meeting decided to establish a Comunidad Andina, and set up an integration system for the Andes countries with its member states unchanged.

In January 1997, the foreign ministers of the five countries expressed their supports for the position adopted by Peru on the "hostage issue". During the period of April-June, Peru announced its withdrawal from the Andes Community because of its serious trade deficit and a bigger difference from other member states on the common tariff, but the row died down only when a compromise was made on both sides through negotiations on the tariff. On 1 August, the Comunidad Andina was officially put into operation.

In May 1999, the eleventh summit meeting made a decision that its objective is to establish a common market in no later than 2005 and to carry out a common foreign policy step by step.

On Jan. 30, 2002, a special summit of the Andes Community was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Presidents of 5 member states of the Andes Community participated in the summit. Integrating process of the Andes Community was mainly discussed at the summit. Agreement was reached over implementing a unified external tariff, a common agricultural policy and further coordinating their foreign policies before Dec. 31, 2003 "Santa Cruz Declaration" was issued at this summit.

Foreign Relations: The Comunidad Andina established successively the mixed committees with Mexico in (October, 1972), Argentina in (November, 1972), Spain in (June, 1973), and the European Economic Community in (December, 1983), and signed a cooperative agreement with Panama. In January 1979, the foreign ministers of the five countries signed a "Memorandum for Mutual Understanding" with Cuba and decided to set up a permanent consultative body. In April 1981, the USA began to render favorable tariff treatment to the Andes Group. In July 1977, the Andes Community issued a joint communiqué with the EEC with a view to strengthening bilateral economic cooperation, and in 1983, the two sides signed the first 5-year cooperative agreement to strengthen their cooperation in the political and economic fields. In June 1999, the European Union decided to prolong its favorable treatment to the countries of the Andes Group to the year of 2004. In October 1983, it signed a cooperative agreement with the Latin America Economic Committee, and decided to fully cooperate in finance and international negotiations over economic issues. In November 1985, the Andes Group held the first meeting in San Jose with the member states of the Central America Common Market, and discussed the questions on how to strengthen the trade relations between the two organizations. In April 1998, it signed a frame agreement with Panama concerning building up through negotiation a free trade zone. On April 16 of the same year, it signed a frame agreement with the South Common Market, and decided to establish a free trade zone between the two groups as of January 1, 2000 onwards, but the negotiations failed. However, Brazil, the member state of the South Common Market, along reached an agreement on the favorable tariff treatment with the Comunidad Andina.

Relations with China: In January 1999, China reached agreement on establishing the mutual consultative mechanism with the Comunidad Andina. In May 1999, President Jiang Zemin sent a congratulatory telegram to Head of the Andes Group, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Comunidad Andina, and also appointed Chinese ambassador in Colombia to attend the meeting on behalf.

On March 30, 2000, Chinese Foreign Minster Tang Jiaxuan, with Dterasagnes, Peruvian Foreign Minister and President of Foreign Minister Council of the Andes Group, signed in Beijing the Agreement on the establishment of political consultative and cooperative mechanism between the People's Republic of China and the Andes Group. The agreement will take effect on the date of signature and last indefinitely.

On Oct. 21, 2002, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan held the first political consultation with the foreign ministers of 5 member of the Andes Community in Bogota, capital city of Columbia. Both sides exchanged views on relations between China and the Andes Community and cooperation over major international issues.