POLITICAL DECLARATION OF MERCOSUR, BOLIVIA, AND CHILE
AS A ZONE OF PEACE 

THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, THE REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA, THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL, THE REPUBLIC OF CHILE, THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY, AND THE EASTERN REPUBLIC OF URUGUAY

CONVINCED that peace is the main desire of our peoples, the basis for the development of humanity, and an essential condition for the present and future existence of MERCOSUR,

RATIFYING their commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Charter of the Organization of American States,

REAFFIRMING that strict adherence to these principles and purposes, as well as to strengthening representative democracy, respect for human rights, basic liberties, social progress, and the protection of the environment are fundamental elements for strengthening peace and security in the region,

BEARING IN MIND that the progress in the integration processes in which they are involved has made an effective contribution to establishing the current climate of growing confidence and cooperation,

CONVINCED that an effective security system is fundamental for the development of their peoples,

REITERATING the decision, taken through the adoption by the General Assembly of the OAS of the Commitment of Santiago in 1991, to begin a process of consultation on hemispheric security in light of new world and regional circumstances,

REAFFIRMING the full effectiveness of the 1995 Declaration of Santiago and the 1998 Declaration of San Salvador on Confidence and Security-Building Measures and the need to continue to strengthen confidence and security in the region,

STRESSING that the Parties have adopted different measures to encourage a joint response to the threat of weapons proliferation, thus contributing to the strengthening of the perception of a region united by cooperation and free of the risks of an arms race, which would be unjustified in our context of integration,

REITERATING their full support for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) and expressing their satisfaction with the full entry into force of this instrument of nonproliferation in their territories,

REAFFIRMING the full effectiveness of the 1991 Commitment of Mendoza for the Total Prohibition of Chemical and Biological Weapons, and

RECALLING that MERCOSUR is a process that is open to other states in the region that share the above-mentioned principles,

AGREE TO:

1. DECLARE MERCOSUR, Bolivia and Chile a zone of peace, free of weapons of mass destruction.

2. STATE that peace is essential to the continuation and development of the MERCOSUR integration process.

3. STRENGTHEN existing consultation and cooperation mechanisms on security and defense issues among its members, promote their progressive coordination, and make progress on cooperation in the sphere of confidence- and security-building measures and promote their implementation.

4. SUPPORT in the pertinent international fora the full force and improvement of instruments and mechanisms for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

5. CARRY OUT joint efforts in pertinent international fora to move forward, within the framework of a gradual and systematic process, with strengthening international agreements aimed at achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament and all aspects of non-proliferation.

6. MAKE PROGRESS towards establishing MERCOSUR, Bolivia y Chile as an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone and endeavor to spread this to include the entire Western Hemisphere.

7. REAFFIRM their commitment to broadening and systematizing the information they provide to the UN Register of Conventional Arms and establish a uniform methodology for reporting military expenditure, with a view to increasing transparency and developing confidence in this area.

8. SUPPORT the work of the Committee on Hemispheric Security of the Organization of American States, in particular with regard to the mandate given to the Committee through the Plan of Action of the Second Summit of the Americas.

9. PROMOTE cooperation among their members for exclusively peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy, science, and space technology.

10. TRANSMIT THIS Declaration to the Secretaries General of the United Nations and the Organization of American States and request that they circulate it as an official document of those Organizations.

Issued at Ushuaia, Argentine Republic, on July 24, 1999.