THE COMMISSION OF THE CARTAGENA AGREEMENT,

HAVING SEEN: Articles 1, 68, 108, 108A, and 108B of the Cartagena Agreement and the Barahona Act signed by the Presidents of the Member Countries on December 5, 1991;

WHEREAS: 

The Presidents of the Member Countries in the Barahona Act expressed their will to intensify the cooperation and negotiations between the regional economic integration processes;

In that same Act, the Presidents pointed out that their negotiations with the Latin American and Caribbean countries shall be preferably of a Communal nature;

In cases where it proves impossible to negotiate as a Community, bilateral negotiations may be carried out;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- Trade negotiations with the countries of ALAI and of Central America and the Caribbean shall be preferably of a Communal nature so that the Andean Group as a whole may participate in them.

Article 2.- Non-reciprocal concessionary agreements may be signed in cases of negotiations where countries in the region, because of their lesser-developed status, deserve special consideration.

Article 3.- Should it prove impossible for any reason to negotiate as a Community, Member Countries may advance their bilateral negotiations with other countries in the region, provided that at least two members of the Andean Group are involved. In such cases, the Member Countries participating shall keep the rest of the Group informed about the progress of those negotiations. The consultations provided for in Article 68 of the Agreement being so fulfilled, objections to these negotiations shall not be acceptable.

Article 4.- The Member Countries commit themselves to review the Partial Scope Agreements signed with the ALADI countries. To that end, they shall agree by September 30, 1992 on the Community criteria to be applied in those negotiations.

Article 5.- All trade agreements that are signed as a result of this Decision shall be formalized within the general framework of the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo and the legal provisions that expand upon it.


Signed in the city of Lima, Peru, on the twenty-fifth of August of nineteen ninety-two.