Andean Community of Nations
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Andean Community
Comunidad Andina (Spanish)
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Flag
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Motto: "Ésta es mi tierra, ésta es mi casa" (Spanish)
"This is my homeland, this is my house" |
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.svg) |
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| Seat of Secretariat |  Lima, Peru |
| Largest cities |
Bogotá Lima Guayaquil Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
| Official languages | |
| Type | Trade bloc |
| Member states |
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| Leaders | |
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• Secretary General
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 Walker San Miguel |
| Establishment | |
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• as the Andean Pact
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1969 |
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• as the CAN
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1996 |
| Area | |
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• Total
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1,470,702 sq mi (3,809,100 km2) (7th) |
| Population | |
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• 2010 estimate
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101,119,783b (12th) |
| GDP (PPP) | estimate |
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• Total
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$902.86 billion (16th) |
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• Per capita
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$8,928.62 |
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The Andean Community (Spanish: Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence when the Cartagena Agreement was signed in 1969. Its headquarters are in Lima, Peru.
The Andean Community has 98 million inhabitants living in an area of 4,700,000 square kilometers, whose Gross Domestic Product amounted to US$745.3 billion in 2005, including Venezuela, who was a member at that time. Its estimated GDP PPP for 2011 amounts to US$902.86 billion, excluding Venezuela.
The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. In 1973 the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. In 1976 however, its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Venezuela announced its withdrawal in 2006, reducing the Andean Community to four member states.
Recently, with the new cooperation agreement with Mercosur, the Andean Community gained four new associate members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. These four Mercosur members were granted associate membership by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in an enlarged session with the Commission (of the Andean Community) on July 7, 2005. This moves reciprocates the actions of Mercosur which granted associate membership to all the Andean Community nations by virtue of the Economic Complementarity Agreements (Free Trade agreements) signed between the CAN and individual Mercosur members.
The Andean Community and Mercosur comprise the two main trading blocs of South America. In 1999, these organizations began negotiating a merger with a view to creating a "South American Free Trade Area" (SAFTA). On December 8, 2004, the Andean Community (CAN) signed a cooperation agreement with Mercosur and they published a joint letter of intention for future negotiations towards integrating all of South America in a Union of South American Nations (USAN), patterned after the European Union. It was formally established by the May 23, 2008, Constitutive Treaty of the USAN signed in Brasília.
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