Conference notes IRRI-KIIB

Summary; this is not an official record of proceedings and specific remarks are not necessarily attributable.

Introduction by H.E. Mr. Luis Chuquihuara, Ambassador of Peru

H.E. Mr. Luis Chuquihuara, Ambassador of Peru, said that the process of democratic recovery of Peru has to fight against a complex system of corruption resulting from the former, autocratic regime of Fujimori. The challenges facing democratic transition are, according to the Ambassador, on the one hand the reconstruction of democratic institutions by different reforms, on the other hand the fact that the government must give appropriate attention to the requests of the Peruvian people. 

He mentioned that valuable reforms have been implemented in the social and economic areas. There are "optimistic macro-economic results".

He pointed out that the creation of the "South American Community of Nations is very important", but that democracies are still weak.

Presentation by Dr. Oscar Schiappa-Pietra

Dr. Oscar Schiappa-Pietra began his presentation by providing a snapshot of Peru’s achievements during the last 45 months, such as the macro-economic growth and stability, which is unusual in the Latin-American context. But still the benefits have not filtered through to all the people of Peru.

He said that his government’s priorities continue to be "the fight against poverty and the creation of jobs". There are a lot of new social programmes with conditional subsidies to the poorest segments of society. Such programmes have been successfully implemented in Brazil and Mexico. In recent weeks, the government has created new public institutions to deal with the inclusion of indigenous populations.

The decentralisation process on the political and economic level is successful. "Powers are returned to local and regional levels". The vision is to have regional and local autonomous governments, transparent, efficient and effective. Schiappa-Pietra stressed the fact that regional governance must be understood as "a process". Any municipal government is receiving now 5 to 10 times more budgetary resources than five years ago. The greatest challenge is to assure efficient expenditure of those resources. There are still many structural problems. The relocation of budgetary funds is not yet achieved.

Furthermore he noted that Peru needs to go through institutional reforms. "A sound system of political parties must be created", real leadership must be promoted. UNDP has produced a report on the development of democracy in Latin America: what prevails is political instability, social problems etc.

The government is supporting and implements the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Another issue discussed was the fight against corruption. Mr. Schiappa-Pietra was critical of how the judicial system worked in his country. He explained that the rights of citizens are not sufficiently protected; social exclusion must be addressed.

What is the role of international cooperation?

In the view of the speaker the issue of real leadership is crucial. The role of the international community "should be limited". It should commit itself more to the fight against corruption. “But as international community, we are too late in the process and too slow in moving forward”, according to Mr. Schiappa-Pietra. The Fujimori issue is an offensive situation to the International Community.

He elaborated on the regional integration of the Andean Community. SANC, founded last December, is intended to develop integration between CAN and Mercosur. He mentioned the fact that the EU presents the prospect of an association agreement. He is convinced that fruitful negotiations with the EU will strengthen the progress that has already been made in the region. It is a very important stimulus for the community to grow strongly.