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BRAZIL, December 16, 2008. Latin American and Caribbean nations are rigorously examining ways to implement integration and development. Statesmen in this northeastern Brazil beach resort, 47 miles from Salvador de Bahia, will carry out an intensive agenda with the beginning in the morning of the 36th Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) Summit. Economic asymmetries, bilateral differences, and lack of definitions about customs codes will focus deliberations by statesmen from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Also attending are presidents from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as MERCOSUR associated nations created by the 1991 Asuncion Treaty. Shortly after debates are concluded or postponed, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will have a special summit in this event. Comprised of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela, the UNASUR aims to elect the general secretary, when the South American Defense Council and the Bank of the South project is created. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is also the host of the First Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Summit on Integration and Development, the first meeting called internally without the presence of extra-regional powers. Among main statements are principles of solidarity and cooperation, the need of getting positions closer to face the global crisis, with regard to the international law and special treatment of the most vulnerable economies. The LAC summit will end with the adoption of a Final Declaration and several complementary documents, with a look in the continuity of this newly-formed mechanism towards integration. (Cubaminrex- PL)
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