Unasur splits two-year Secretary General post between Colombia and Venezuela

Saturday, March 12th 2011 - 06:09 UTC

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Foreign Affairs ministers from the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, gathered in Ecuador Friday for their first meeting as a legally constituted organization agreed on the names to fill the post of Secretary General, vacant since the death of former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. Read full article

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A strike of political and diplomatic geniality…..

1 year to la “Monita”
1 year to Ali……………………..

A very good day for Unasur :-)
Mar 12th, 2011 - 08:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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GeoffWard
”Venezuela’s Minister of Electricity Ari Rodriguez will hold the post (UNASUR Secretary General) for the following twelve months.”

As one of the non-aligned states - not-Mercasur, not- Andean Community of Nations (CAN), Venezuela has a free hand to develop South America in its own image. I hope the Continent has a strong stomach!

BACKGROUND: UNASUR
As of November 2010, UNASUR groups have been working on Financial Integration, the World Drug Problem, Infrastructure and Planning, Culture, Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Social Development, Defense, Energy, Health, Disputes Settlement. Progress is slow, to say the least.
The South American Single Market, beginning with the elimination of tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014, and for sensitive products by 2019, is to be developed through the convergence of Mercosur and CAN procedures.
Economic development: Presidents of the founding countries - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay - launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The capital will be US$7b, with Venezuela responsible for US$3b (!) and Brazil US$2b. The headquarters will be located in Caracas with offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz. The Bank of the South (a bit like the World Bank) will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness, to ‘reinforce integration’, to ‘reduce asymmetries’, to ‘promote egalitarian distribution of investments’, and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states.
Wrt. Defence policy, the South American Defence Council (CDS), will be responsible for regional security, military co-operation and regional defence. Not a NATO-like alliance, but ‘a cooperative security arrangement, enhancing multilateral military cooperation, promoting confidence and security-building measures, and fostering defense industry exchange’. Even Colombia, with its USA ‘Plan Colombia’ programme, has signed up. Re-arming the conti
Mar 12th, 2011 - 05:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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