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Abstract: The Andean Group, a common enterprise of six countries running down the western coast of South America from Venezuela to Chile, formalized by the 1969 Acuerdo de Cartagena signed in Colombia, represents a laudable attempt at forming a stable integrated economic unit extending over the better part of the Andean mountain range and its environs. Whatever adjunct concerns it may manifest, the principal objective of the Andean Group is to bind participant countries into an economic development unit and achieve a modern industrialized society in common. This is an ambitious goal, and while the Andean Group has achieved an auspicious start the real acid test of its viability is the measure of the integration effort embodied in the Acuerdo found in it sectorial programs of industrial development. This article develops this proposition and reveals some measure of the Andean Group’s prospects by analyzing the only sectorial programs of industrial development as yet approved by vote of the Commission, the metalworking program set up by Decision No. 57 of 20 August 1972. History will have the final verdict on the Andean Group’s bold new thrust at development. The verdict should come within a decade or so, but hopes are high.
Keywords: Andean Group, Latin American Common Market, Acuerdo de Cartagena
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