MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rio Group summit pledge help for Haiti and democracy.

Peruvian and Brazilian presidents Alejandro Toledo and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva inaugurated Thursday in Rio do Janeiro the XVIIIth Rio Group presidential summit which this Friday will release a document pledging support for Haiti, democracy and regional integration.

Although the Rio-Group has nineteen full members, several presidents missed the appointment because of delicate domestic political situations, but the greatest surprise came from Argentina's president Nestor Kirchner who at last minute cancelled the trip in spite of the fact that together with Peru and Brazil they hold the pro-tempore chair of the regional organization.

The final document will pledge a greater Latinamerican "military and civil" cooperation with Haiti; demand that United Nations reforms go beyond a new integration of the Security Council and a commitment to support expansion of democracy and social justice in the continent.

"Combating hunger and the delicate social situation in Haiti are priorities since all countries of the region are involved directly or indirectly. Besides that, the final document will deal with specific support projects to strengthen democracy and fight corruption in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Bolivia", revealed Celso Amorim, Brazil's Foreign Affairs Minister.

Actually Ecuador officially requested the Rio Group the naming of a dialogue committee between the opposition and president Lucio Gutierrez who cancelled his presence because he faces a possible congressional impeachment.

"The idea could be to create a "group of friends of Ecuador", a dialogue initiative that worked in Venezuela", advanced Mr. Amorim adding that "the defense of Ecuador's democracy is in the interest of all. The position of the Rio Group is non interference, but we can't be indifferent either".

Dialogue with Cuba is another issue, sponsored by Brazil, but which has not been fully considered and "won't necessarily be included, formally, in Friday's document".

Besides combating corruption and poverty, another concern of the Rio Group is strengthening economic integration which was extensively discussed during the ministerial meeting that preceded the presidential summit.

"Our immediate interest is the integration of Mercosur with the Andean Community. Brazilian trade with South America has jumped 60%, only overtaken by Europe", revealed Mr. Amorim.

Presidents participating in the summit are from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela plus Peru and Brazil.