The South American presidents recognized in a summit held on Tuesday in Brasilia the importance of maintaining a regular dialogue to promote integration and project the voice of the region in the world, and agreed to develop a roadmap to monitor these objectives.
The presidents agreed to establish a “contact group”, headed by the foreign ministers of the twelve countries gathered, to evaluate “the experiences of the South American integration mechanisms” and the preparation of a road map “that will be submitted to the consideration of the Heads of State,” said the statement that was approved at the Brasilia summit.
The meeting that took place on Tuesday at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia, was attended by the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname and Venezuela. On behalf of Peru, Alberto Otárola, president of the Council of Ministers, attended.
The participants agreed to meet again, at a date and place to be determined, to review the course of South American cooperation initiatives and determine the next steps, said the document that was released by the Brazilian government.
The leaders promised to work for the increase of trade and investment between the countries; improvement of infrastructure and logistics; strengthening regional value chains; the application of trade facilitation and financial integration measures and the overcoming of asymmetry.
They also agreed to strive to eliminate unilateral measures and market access through the network of economic complementation agreements, including within the framework of ALADI (Latin American Integration Association), with the goal of an effective South American free trade area. .
The presidents were summoned to identify a set of initiatives in the areas of health, combating transnational crime, defense, physical integration, and energy transition.
But the search for common interests turned out to be difficult to achieve at times due to the persistence of ideological differences and the controversial figure of President Nicolás Maduro once again became the center of attention in a regional meeting.
Several discrepancies arose around Maduro and the suitability of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) as a forum for collaboration during the summit called by the Brazilian Luiz Inácio “Lula” Da Silva, promoter of integration and who seeks to retake regional leadership after returning to power in January for third time.
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