The Andean Community is a subregional organization endowed with an international legal status, which is made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela and the bodies and institutions comprising the Andean Integration System (AIS).

The General Secretariat is the executive body of the Andean Community which, starting on August 1, 1997, took on, among other things, the functions of the Board of the Cartagena Agreement. The General Secretariat is under the direction of a Secretary General, elected by consensus of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers.

The General Secretariat has a capacity of proposal, in that it is empowered to draw up Draft Decisions and propose them to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and to the Commission, as well as to pass on initiatives and suggestions to that Council meeting in enlarged session, in order to contribute to or hasten compliance with the Cartagena Agreement. Its functions also include managing the Subregional integration process; resolving issues submitted for its consideration; ensuring that Community commitments are fulfilled; and maintaining on-going links with the Member Countries and working relations with the executive bodies of other regional integration and cooperation organizations.

The statistics department of the SGCA is concerned with the harmonization of the official statistics of the five member countries. Within the framework of Metagora, it is coordinating the pilot activity of the five National Statistical Institutes of the Andean Community, who are attaching modules on governance, democracy and subjective poverty to regular household surveys.