South American countries create a working group on integration, but without deadlines

The presidents of the South American countries agreed on Tuesday to establish a “contact group” headed by the foreign ministers to elaborate a “Roadmap” aimed at promoting the integration of the region.

The so-called Brasilia Consensus, signed at the end of the meeting of presidents organized in the Brazilian capital, does not establish deadlines for the work of the foreign ministers, as the host president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wanted, who had proposed a period of 120 days to develop the action plan.

The declaration consists of nine points in which the importance of regional integration is stressed, which “must be part of the solutions to meet shared challenges”, and in which the need for “promote, from now on, South American cooperation initiatives, under a social and gender approach”.

The document includes, in its second point, a commitment “with democracy and human rights, sustainable development and social justice, the rule of law and institutional stability, the defense of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs”.

This point aroused criticism from the Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, who, in his first intervention at the summit, said that this article that talks about democracy does not fully reflect the Venezuelan situation.

“Obviously, we do not have the same definition, which I think is one in the Royal Spanish Academy, of what respect for institutions, human rights and democracy are.”, affirmed the Uruguayan president.

Apart from this, the agreed document proposes that the rulers of the region meet again “on a date and place to be determined” to give continuity to the dialogue between the South American countries, which, as they recognized, “it must be regular”.

In the economic area, the presidents promised to promote trade and investment among the countries of the region, to overcome asymmetries, eliminate unilateral measures and increase economic cooperation, “having as goal an effective South American free trade area”.

Among other areas of cooperation, they cited health, the environment, defense, infrastructure and logistics, energy interconnection and clean energy, digital transformation, security and the fight against transnational organized crime.

The summit was attended by the presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; Bolivia, Luis Arce; Chile, Gabriel Boric; Colombia, Gustavo Petro; Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso; Guyana, Irfaan Ali; Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez; Suriname, Chan Santokhi; Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Peru is represented by the President of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola.

Source: EFE