UN General Assembly
1997

Central America and a situation of peace, we deem it essential to design and implement regional and unified responses to the demands of our peoples and the challenges of globalization. 19 During the past three years we have made extraordinary progress in our integration efforts, which extend from a new conceptual horizon, one that has become better balanced and more inclusive with the creation of the Alliance for Sustainable Development and the establishment of innovative regional projects to increase regional competitiveness by means of joint efforts on the part of Governments, academic centres and sectors of production. We replaced the former common market in 1991 with a new legal framework that created the Central American Integration System (SICA). However, as we were also convinced of the need to go beyond mere governmental cooperation in our regional integration efforts, a few weeks ago, in Panama, we took an important step towards strengthening, deepening and developing our regional cooperation. We agreed on the broadest possible review and modernization of our regional institutional framework, as