Brasilia (EFE).- The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, inaugurated the South American summit on Tuesday with a call to resume regional integration through a forum that is beyond ideologies and begins to function immediately.
At the opening of the summit, Lula proposed creating a “high-level group”, made up of representatives of the presidents, to prepare a new “road map for the integration of South America” within 120 days.
The summit is 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.
Lula and his call for integration
Lula made a long review of the various attempts in South America to achieve true integration, frustrated since the 1960s, and assured that the region can no longer wait to overcome in conditions of unity the social abysses that persist “since colonialism.”
The Brazilian president then proposed the first ten points for discussion, in a sort of decalogue for this new integration that he proposes.
He proposed “putting regional savings at the service of economic and social development”, through regional financial organizations, and analyzing the possibility of using local currencies in South American trade, in order to reduce the high dependence on the dollar.
He also proposed discussing initiatives to standardize regulations and reduce bureaucracy in the commercial area, expand electronic commerce and fundamentally “update the project portfolio” for the physical integration of the region, designed more than two decades ago and most of it completely unfinished. .
Lula’s “decalogue” also included the possible creation of a “South American energy market, which ensures supply, efficient use of resources, legal stability, fair prices, and social and environmental sustainability.”
The closure is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. GMT), after which some presidents will return to their countries and others will attend a dinner that Lula will host at the Alvorada Palace, his official residence in Brasilia.
