2023-05-30 16:23:00
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, proposed on Tuesday his colleagues in the region to “revive” the process of building the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and work to create monetary units to trade without depending on the dollar.
Lula’s harangue
“We must deepen our South American identity also in the monetary field through more efficient compensation mechanisms and the creation of a common reference unit for trade, reducing dependence on extra-regional currencies,” Lula said during the opening speech of the South American summit that is being held in the city of Brasilia.
“No country by itself will have the strength to face the challenges of geopolitics and the current world economy”added
In an attempt to seize the political initiative as a global actor, especially following resuming diplomatic relations yesterday with the official visit of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Lula positioned himself as the largest economy in the region at the forefront of the reconstruction process of the Unasur.
“In the face of so many changes and challenges in the world, what role do we want for South America? No country can face the current systemic threats alone. Only by acting together can we overcome them and our region has solid assets to face this world in transition” , assured the president.
By order of the organization of the Brazilian Presidency, only Lula’s speech was broadcast live, without offering arguments.
“We have no time to lose. South America has before it, once once more, the opportunity to walk the path of unity. And you don’t have to start from scratch. Unasur is a collective good. Remember that it is valid. Seven countries remain full members. It is important to resume its construction process,” he assured. Chile, Uruguay and Ecuador are the nations of the region that did not return to the South American bloc.
The president clarified before the speech that the meeting was not intended to draw conclusions or statements but rather a “reflection” on Latin America and South America in particular.
Lula assured that the unity of South America is important because it is a large consumer market of 450 million inhabitants.
“We have the largest and most diverse energy potential in the world when you take into account oil and gas reserves, hydroelectricity, biofuels, nuclear, wind and solar power, and green hydrogen. We are large and diverse providers of food. We have more of 1/3 of the world’s freshwater reserves and a very rich and little-known biodiversity,” he said.
He also stated that he intends to unify South America before international forums such as the G-20 summit, the Brics meeting, and the COP 30 on climate change.
In this context, he maintained that the integration was stopped partly by the government of Jair Bolsonaro, which he called a “denialist”, and partly for having applied the ideological question over the foreign policy of the Itamaraty Palace, destroying ties and ruining cooperation with neighbors.
The host used part of his speech to highlight the achievements of Unasur in the field of dialogue on the question of defense, the fight once morest transnational crime and the combination of economic growth with social inclusion.
“According to the FAO, South America reduced, in two decades, from 15% to 5% of its population victims of hunger. Unasur was effective as a forum to resolve disputes between countries in the region, especially in the crisis between Colombia and Ecuador and in the Bolivian separatist conflict”, he indicated, while considering that “South America is no longer just a geographical reference” but has become “a political reality”, a priority for Brazil since it assumed the Presidency once more on January 1 past.
He said that the current moment, following the coronavirus pandemic and with the war in Ukraine, finds “Global governance forums facing serious difficulties in offering fair and effective responses to problems”.
He cited climate change and the fight once morest deforestation. “We know that what happens in the Amazon affects the La Plata Basin,” she said.
SpecificLula summoned the presidents to discuss regional savings and credit mechanisms such as CAF, Fonplata, Banco del Sur and BNDES.
He also proposed the creation of a High Level Group, made up of personal representatives of each President, to follow up on the work of reflection.
This Group will have 120 days to present a road map for the integration of South America.
The presence of Alberto Fernández
Alberto Fernández participates in the summit of South American countries summoned by the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The President arrived this Tuesday at 10:20 a.m. Palace of Itamaratythe headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry accompanied by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, to offer a speech in plenary in the morning and hold personal conversations with other leaders present at the summit in the followingnoon.
The meeting of presidents of Unasur is taking place at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, with an open agenda, and with a tentative ending time at 6:00 p.m., sources from the Argentine government informed Télam.
After the summit, a dinner is planned, which will be provided at the Palacio de la Alvorada, in honor of the participants.
In addition to Fernandez and Lula, the meeting will be attended by Presidents Luis Arce (Bolivia), Gabriel Boric (Chile), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Guillermo Lasso (Ecuador), Irfaan Ali (Guyana), Mario Abdo Benitez (Paraguay), Chan Santokhi (Suriname), Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay) and Nicolas Maduro (Venezuela).
HAPPENS NOW | President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez.
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— Government of Brazil (@govbr) May 30, 2023
The current president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, constitutionally prevented from attending the summit, is represented by the president of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola.
The summit was called by Lula following Brazil decided to rejoin the South American Union of Nations (Unasur) and as part of the diplomatic efforts to recover the regional integration that was built in the first decade of this century.
Fernández climbed the traditional staircase of the modernist building of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry accompanied by Cafiero and the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira.
The city of Brasilia is this Tuesday under an extensive security operation to receive the 11 leaders and the Peruvian representative.
The first president to arrive was the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, who yesterday made a state visit to Brazil, the first following eight years and following being prohibited from entering the country by the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
After the bilateral with Maduro, Lula defended the South American union as a “bloc” to overcome “serious problems that are more than 500 years old.”
“If we are together, we have a market of 450 million people, we have strength in the negotiation process and that is why this summit is important.Lula assured.
Meanwhile, the Argentine president arrived last night in the city of Brasilia, where he was received by the Argentine ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli.
Fernández traveled accompanied by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello; and the spokesperson for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti.
Since Lula came to power, the Argentine head of state has sought to accelerate integration with Brazil, with the Mercosur countries, and has focused on the rehabilitation of the South American bloc, of which former President Néstor Kirchner was its first secretary general.
The meeting will seek to motorize Unasur, which, with the return of Argentina and Brazil, once once more has the six countries necessary to be able to hold sessions, since in its constitutive letter it remarks that it must have half of the members, which are 12 .
The six countries that currently make up Unasur are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. The remaining six are Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
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