MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unasur should have Secretary General next April 30

The Union of South American Nations, Unasur, agreed on a new timetable for the ratification of the organization's multilateral treaty and for reaching a consensus on the nomination of a standing secretary general, which has soured relations between Uruguay and Argentina.

The announcement was made Tuesday during the Latinamerican and Caribbean leaders meeting hosted by Brazil in the northeast of the country and which actually has four different motives: Mercosur, the Rio Group, Unasur and an extraordinary meeting of all 33 countries to discuss how to address regionally the global recession. "There's an only great agreement which expresses the willingness of all Presidents and that is that we want a permanent secretary general which is the result of a great accord between all countries", said Chilean president Michelle Bachelet who added the definitive date for such a nomination is next April, when Chile's pro-tempore chair period comes to an end. Ms. Bachelet said April 30 was proposed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. "Then we will have to decide definitively on the secretary general", said Bachelet, following Uruguay's non acceptance of the majority formula amendment, instead of the consensus as marked by the Unasur charter. Apparently much time was spent on discussing the issue of the nomination mechanism for which Argentina's former president Nestor Kirchner allegedly has a majority support, but not consensus. Uruguay objects his name because of ongoing diplomatic differences with the Kirchner administrations, including pickets blocking bilateral bridges and Buenos Aires reluctance to dredge River Plate access channels. Although not much is known of the closed doors deliberations in Brazil, according to the local press, Ecuador urged a "majority solution" for the controversy while a "task force" was named to try to reach an understanding. Argentina and Uruguay virtually did not participate in the debate.