MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

S. American leftist governments' common agenda

High-ranking officials of the leftist governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay met Friday in Montevideo and forged “a common agenda” for southern South America.

"We're very happy with this historic deed, where, for the first time, we four neighbouring countries have progressive governments and want to raise our citizens' quality of life and can show that we're united in this task" said Michele Bachelet, Chilean former Cabinet minister and the Socialist Party's current presidential candidate.

Attending the meeting for Argentina was First Lady and Senator Cristina Fernandez and Cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez. The Brazilian representatives were President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top two advisors, Cabinet chief Jose Dirceu and international policy advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia. Uruguay, which since last March 1 is ruled by its first-ever leftist government, was represented by Foreign Minister Reinaldo Gargano and Jorge Brovetto, chairman of the ruling coalition or Broad Front.

The participants emphasized the meeting's importance and the political platform that emerged, above all, because all recognized that they needed one another to make any real progress.

"I think that for progressive governments it's fundamental to assume that we have common problems and challenges that no country can resolve on its own," said Ms. Bachelet.

The various representatives indicated that the new platform is designed to generate reciprocal solidarity and that the experiences of each member can help all the others. "We intend to give political consistency to regional integration and learn from the experiences of others," said Brazil's Garcia. Argentina's Fernandez added that "we want to deal with everyone's problems and find a way to resolve them, to determine what's going on and what common vision we have".

The political circumstances for the unprecedented meeting of leftist government representatives have been developing for about a decade, but the participants are counting on the election next December of Chile's a left-centre coalition with Ms. Bachelet as the country's first ever woman, and that Brazil's Lula and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner will be re-elected.

"We've created something abstract and political, which is the means by which we will be able to arrive later at detailed agreements" explained Mr. Garcia.

That does not mean that the group will not discuss concrete issues in the meantime. One of the conclusions of the meeting was to establish a "hot lines" system that should help to defuse mutual conflicts. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Argentina.