THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS

HAVING SEEN: Decisions 458 "Common Foreign Policy Guidelines", 475 "Directive No. 1 of the Common Foreign Policy," and 476 "Follow-up of the Common Foreign Policy"; and

WHEREAS:

It is necessary to update, in light of experience, the criteria and guidelines for execution of the Common Foreign Policy established in Directive No. 1, approved through Decision No. 475, and to have a single, unified text;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the following amendments and addendums to Directive No. 1 established through Decision 475:

-To replace Chapter II, paragraph 9 by the following text:

"9. The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers shall approve the Common Foreign Policy agenda annually. That agenda shall be updated quarterly at meetings of High-Level Officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs or at special meetings when circumstances so counsel, and the Council shall be so informed."

-To include the following new paragraph 10 in Chapter II:

"The Secretariat Pro Tempore shall develop jointly with the officials responsible for coordinating and following up on the Common Foreign Policy appointed by each Ministry of Foreign Affairs pursuant to Decision 476 and with the assistance of the General Secretariat, an effective system of communication, consultation, and exchange of information, in order to guarantee that the Common Foreign Policy agenda is addressed and to consider situations or issues that require priority attention."

-To incorporate the following new paragraph 4 in Chapter IV:

"4. The Council of Foreign Ministers may instruct the Andean Diplomatic Missions and Permanent Delegations to take any of the measures cited in the final paragraph of Chapter II in order to fulfill the Common Foreign Policy agenda. The Secretariat Pro Tempore shall officially transmit this instruction to the head of the Mission or Delegation

of the country that is currently chairing the Council, with copies for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat. Those Missions or Delegations shall jointly prepare the reports to the Council containing the results of the assigned measures and send them to the Council in the same way. The Missions or Delegations may request the General Secretariat�s technical assistance in fulfilling the tasks that are assigned to them."

Article 2.- To instruct the Andean Embassies to the United States and the European Union and the Permanent Andean Missions to the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, and the international organizations with headquarters in Geneva and Vienna, in compliance with the stipulations of Chapter IV, paragraph 3 of Directive No. 1 on the Common Foreign Policy, to establish a mechanism for holding meetings for coordination and the exchange of information and viewpoints on subjects of the Common Foreign Policy agenda in their respective spheres of competence, at least once every quarter, and to keep the Council permanently informed through the Pro Tempore Secretariat about those meetings, together with the initiatives and recommendations that are put forward on new issues for cooperation and coordination.

Article 3.- To authorize the General Secretariat to prepare a unified text of Directive No. 1 entitled "Criteria and guidelines for formulating and executing the Common Foreign Policy," pursuant to the stipulations of this Decision.

Signed in the city of Valencia, Venezuela, on the twenty-second of June of two thousand and one.