MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bank of the South opening delayed until December

The official opening of the Bank of the South, a development-promotion financial institution with the support of most South American countries has been delayed until December 5, announced Venezuela's Foreign Affairs minister Nicolas Maduro.

"All countries agreed to postpone the signature ceremony for December", said Maduro from Montevideo, Uruguay where he was participating in a Mercosur meeting, although he advanced no details about the delay which was originally planned for November 3. "South America must insist with integration mechanisms already existent and those in the process of birth, such as the Bank of the South", added Maduro. The bank is considered the brain child of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez who is trying to curtail influence of other multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter American Development Bank which he describes as Washington oriented. The "alternative" bank has the support of Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay. The main offices will be in Caracas and subsidiaries in Buenos Aires and La Paz. Following recent meetings it was agreed to have an initial working capital of seven billion US dollars. There was some controversy about the decision making process and voting in the bank's board, whether linked to a country's economy, capital contribution or one vote per country. Apparently an agreement was reached.