MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Democratic clause” to be included in Unasur constitution, said Kirchner

Ex President Kirchner at the Chilean congress

The Union of South American Nations, (UNASUR), Secretary General Nestor Kirchner ended Wednesday a two-day visit to Chile where he met with President Sebastian Piñera and congressional leaders to lobby for the approval of the regional group’s charter.

“I’m optimistic about the advance, discussions and contribution made by all so that the Latinamerican integration process can continue to progress through the powerful instrument of Unasur”, said Kirchner before returning to Argentina.

On his visit’s second day the former Argentine president met with the Chilean Senate speaker Jaime Pizarro, where the ratification of the Unasur treaty and charter has been stalled since January 2009.

“I’m very pleased with the meeting held with Senator Pizarro” said Kirchner. “We went through the ratification of Unasur constitution and agreed on many issues”. Nevertheless Kirchner promised he would be sending written contributions to help with the original text, following on the solicitations presented by the Chilean Senate.

“With the natural limitations we can understand, we want Unasur as a strong and efficient body in finding solutions to problems and not just an excuse for meetings for presidents or Executive representatives with no resolution capacities”, emphasized Kirchner.

Given Chilean lawmakers request to include a ‘democratic clause’ in the Unasur charter, Kirchner said he agreed with the proposal since ‘reiteration is not harmful’. A similar clause exists for Mercosur member countries.

Following the interview with Senator Pizarro, the former Argentine president met with the Foreign Relations Committee in full and later with the president of a similar committee from the Lower House, Marcelo Díaz.

On Tuesday Kirchner was received by President Sebastián Piñera at the Executive palace, Casa de la Moneda, a meeting which he described as a ‘positive encounter’ and where both leaders had exposed ‘parallel ideas’.

Kirchner has already visited Ecuador and Paraguay for the same purpose. The UNASUR charter has been approved by Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Guyana, Bolivia and Argentina and is still awaiting confirmation by the parliaments of Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Surinam and Uruguay as well as Chile.

The charter needs the approval of at least nine of the 12 member countries in order to be enacted.

As part of his UNASUR agenda, Kirchner is scheduled to visit Uruguay, Peru and Bolivia during the upcoming weeks and will meet with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and President-elect Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia next month.

Meantime from Ecuador it was announced that the extraordinary meeting of Unasur Foreign Affairs ministers scheduled for this week in Quito was postponed allegedly because of the ‘ministerial agenda”.

The Unasur foreign affairs council is scheduled to address among other issues, dialogue with Washington, a sensitive point since Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are demanding the US and Colombia reveal the terms of a military understanding with contemplates the deployment of US troops in Colombian bases.

Other issues include reports on the aid granted to earthquake ravaged Haiti and coordinate the transfer of Unasur pro-tempore presidency from Ecuador to Guyana.