IPS-English SOUTH AMERICA: Regional Integration Back on the Agenda
 
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 15:54:54 -0700

 
Walter Sotomayor

BRASILIA, May 23   (IPS)  - Political and economic integration as
a strategy to combat poverty in South America was put back at the
top of the regional agenda Friday with the signing of a treaty that
created the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in the Brazilian
capital.



The document, which must now be ratified by the parliaments of the
12 member countries, underscores basic principles of international
law like respect for sovereignty and territorial inviolability and
states that cooperation is the route for reducing divisions among
countries in the region.

”The accent must be put on consensus building,” said Chilean President
Michelle Bachelet, who added that UNASUR is a more ambitious project
that will continue the work of earlier integration and political dialogue
forums 

Bachelet, who assumed the rotating presidency of the new regional
body, said it was ”the best mechanism to build confidence and work
towards agreements, in a framework of mutual respect” -- an allusion
to the concern over the tension between Colombia and Ecuador and Venezuela.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told the press that ”relations
with Colombia are at a low point,” since the Colombian military bombed
a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp in Ecuador.

To improve the situation, he said, Colombia should stop its media
smear campaign against Ecuador.

But Friday's summit meeting in Brasilia seems to have shored up confidence
in dialogue as the means of settling disputes and integration as a
mechanism for overcoming poverty.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva downplayed the disagreements
between some countries in the region, stating that ”the current disputes,
although dramatic in appearance, are just a passing phenomenon.”

In an interview with the press, Lula compared the work of integration
to the construction of the Great Wall of China, and expressed his
satisfaction with what he called ”the creation of the great South
American nation.”

The president said ”Brazil wants to link its present and future with
those of South America,” and pointed to the size of the region, which
is bathed by the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the
Caribbean Sea, and is home to 300 million people with a great capacity
and potential for production and consumption.

He described South America as a peaceful region where democracy reigns,
and pointed out that the region's 12 heads of state and government
were all democratically elected.

”The ‘instability' that some like to point to on our continent is
a sign of life, especially political life,” said Lula. ”There is no
democracy without people (holding demonstrations) in the streets,
without a confrontation of ideas and proposals. Nor is there democracy
without rules and without dialogue.”

The treaty signed in Brasilia in Spanish, Portuguese, English and
Dutch is aimed at strengthening political dialogue among the member
countries, to reinforce integration, as well as social and human development
marked by equality.

It also establishes as priorities the eradication of illiteracy,
universal access to education and regionwide recognition of university
degrees and coursework from other member countries.

Working groups that were set up to implement these objectives are
to present concrete proposals and a plan of action in each of these
areas, as well as energy integration, economic and financial cooperation,
and the creation of a regional Defence Council.

The Defence Council is to be a mechanism for political dialogue and
the sharing of information on regional security. ”Many of our countries
are working in Haiti, and I believe that we can do much more together
in our region,” said Bachelet.

Lula suggested holding a new summit later this year to continue moving
forward with the process of regional integration between the member
countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana,
Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.

*****
+ SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil Tries to Regain Initiative, at Summit (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42476)

 (END/IPS/LA IP IF DV/TRASP-SW/WS/08)


 
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