MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay promotes Chilean candidate for OAS

Uruguayan elected President Tabaré Vazquez said Wednesday in Santiago that his administration will support the candidacy of Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza for the job of Organization of American States, OAS Secretary General.

"Our government will support Mr. Insulza's candidacy", stated Mr. Vazquez during a press conference in La Moneda (Chile's Government House) next to Chilean president Ricardo Lagos.

"It would be really important for South American countries that Mr. Insulza occupies that post", said Mr. Vázquez who made a short visit to Chile in coincidence with the presence in Santiago of Spanish President Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Mr. Vázquez elected by a left wing coalition belongs to the Socialist Party as is Chilean president Lagos and Spanish president Rodriguez Zapatero.

Besides Uruguay, Mr. Insulza now has the official support of three South American heavyweights, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

"I believe the vision of South America consolidated behind the candidacy of Jose Miguel is consolidating and this is very positive", highlighted Chilean president Lagos.

The elected Uruguayan president who takes office next March anticipated his administration favours the expansion of Mercosur "with agreements in other fields besides trade, such as a common energy strategy for the region".

Mercosur currently has four full members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, plus associate members, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela.