MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivian president pledges productive 2003 Ibero-American Summit

Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada has pledged to organize an Ibero-American Summit next year that will be as productive as the one that ended Saturday night in Playa Bavaro.

Sanchez de Lozada plans a grassroots campaign so the public does not perceive the international forum as something distant and of dubious nature. In an conference press after the two-day summit in the Dominican Republic, the Bolivian president expressed his continued support for globalization although he knows it has generated problems. "I acknowledge that not everything is working (under globalization). It is not a paradigm, it is a reality with very good and very bad things," he said. Sanchez de Lozada, in his second term at the age of 72, said it makes him smile when Brazil voices concern about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which is to be implemented in 2005. "Bolivia has a very open economy and we will not feel the impact. Our exports will grow. Brazil has production. They will gain the most with more access to the U.S. market. I believe that in the long run, Brazil will see the advantages. No one signs an accord if they do not benefit," he said. The Bolivian president also favors the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), which includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay as full members and Bolivia and Chile as associate members. Mercosur could reach an agreement with the Andean Community (Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) during a meeting in Brasilia on Dec. 5-6. "Our main interest is to export to our neighbors," Sanchez de Lozada said, as he cited the region's lack of economic growth as Latin America's "grave problem." He said that despite the recession, democracy on the continent is "very strong," including in Bolivia, and that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's claim of possible coup attempts in the region are unfounded. Sanchez Lozada said it was "ironic" and "a somewhat negative example" for former coup leaders like Chavez and Ecuador's Lucio Gutierrez to reach power via an electoral process. Despite "the crisis and the pressure exerted by failing to live up to the expectations of the people, democracy is still strong. In Bolivia, most people have an anti-system attitude, but an electoral process took place, we can govern, and we are trying to fight the country's problems," he asserted. Sanchez de Lozada told that the decision on whether to export natural gas to the United States via the Peruvian port of Ilo or the Chilean port of Patillos is a complex issue which entails technical and economic factors, as well as emotions. Technicalities and costs are important issues, he said, but "we cannot forget the political aspects, such as the resistance of a large part of the Bolivian people, who feel we will be benefitting a country (Chile) we had a war with." Bolivia lost its only ocean coastline when it was defeated by Chile in the 1879-1884 War of the Pacific and it has been trying to regain it ever since. "The gravity of the problem is that we must overcome physical, psychological and political barriers. We are studying the situation, but have not resolved it yet," he stated. According to Sanchez de Lozada, the themes to be dealt with at the 2003 Ibero-American Summit depend on the conclusions reached by the commission headed by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The commission, he said, will try to institutionalize the Permanent Secretariat and make the summits more "useful and effective." The Bolivian president remains undecided on whether to hold the summit yearly or more sporadically, as suggested by Cardoso, who leaves office in January. Nevertheless, Sanchez de Lozada said, it depends on the issues. If the forum is to handle general matters, it should be more sporadic. If the topics are current and urgent, it should be an annual event. The 13th Ibero-American Summit will be held in Bolivia, but the precise location has yet to be established. Sanchez de Lozada would like to have it held at a site close to the public, as opposed to what happened in the Dominican Republic. La Paz, at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,114 feet), seems an unlikely location, and the Bolivian president has promised "plenty of oxygen" for the event. There also has to be, he said, the requisite amount of "infrastructure for so many people and (so much) equipment."