What ever happened to the Community of Andean Nations-APEC initiative?

In October 2004, an initiative to boost the Andean Community of Nations’ (CAN) presence in the Asia-Pacific was launched. The only country who happens to be a member in both organizations, Peru, also happens to be hosting this year’s APEC meeting. What ever happened to the aforementioned joint initiative which, incidentally, was never mentioned after a 2004 visit by APEC leadership to Lima?

When Chile hosted APEC in 2004, APEC’s former Executive Director, Mario Artaza, agreed with CAN leader, Allan Wagner, to improve APEC-CAN ties.   At the time, the initiative was very well received and both sides expressed their interest to deepen the relationship. For his part, Wagner stressed that strengthening the presence of the Andean countries in the Asia-Pacific “was an important goal that could not be accomplished on an individual basis, but rather as the Andean Community as a whole.”

This initial progress was the only time the initiative has been mentioned. Therefore, the Asia-Pacific Portal contacted CAN’s General Secretariat in Peru.

We had the opportunity to discuss the CAN-APEC link, which was originally presented as a program which aimed at integrating Andean nations interested in APEC membership. "(It was) more than a mere initiative. We actually began a process of steps to integrating Ecuador and Colombia, who were interested in being integrated into APEC," the CAN source stated. However, these efforts have not borne fruit. Peru is still the only CAN who also belongs to APEC.

Our CAN source in Lima explained, "in order for a relationship to exist (between CAN and APEC, these two) countries must be integrated." As such, there are currently no formal CAN relations with APEC. “To date, said integration has not materialized. So this initiative has not been relevant.” But efforts to integrate have continued, as witnessed by the fact that Peru has invited to Colombia and Ecuador to be observers at this year’s APEC meeting.

The Andean Community of Nations is composed of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and its aim is to promote the development of member countries via integration. Chile limited its participation to that of an Associate Member Country thus far.