South American foreign ministers are scheduled to meet next Friday in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to decide the name of the next Unasur secretary general, according to an official release from the main office in Quito.
Despite the strong statement against US intervention in Syria and the harmonious meeting of Paraguay and Venezuela presidents, the recent Unasur (Union of South American Nations) summit in Suriname was unable to agree on the group’s next Secretary General, a post which is currently held by Venezuela’s Ali Rodriguez.
Venezuela has taken the Unasur secretary general post from Colombia during a ceremony last Monday held in Bogotá with the attendance of Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and his Paraguayan counterpart Fernando Lugo.
Union of South American Nations (Unasur) member states released a report detailing each country’s military spending. Ministers and diplomats from the twelve nation regional bloc also pledged further military integration, proposing the creation of a Citizen Security Council.
Unasur Secretary General Maria Emma Mejia met on Monday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and delivered a statement from the twelve countries of the region in support of Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Malvinas Islands.
Six South American countries are sharing for the first time in history information on defence expenditure which is seen as a first concrete step to leave behind border disputes and ensure peace in the region, said delegates from Chile, Ecuador and Unasur, Union of South American Nations.
Infrastructure and integration investments totalling 13.7 billion dollars in the next ten years to 2022 were announced by the Unasur (Union of South American Nations) infrastructure chapter this week in Brasilia.
European Union and Latin American leaders called for a quicker pace in concluding the EU/Mercosur cooperation and trade negotiations. The statement took place during the meeting in Brussels of the Euro-Latinamerica Parliamentary assembly.
European and Latinamerican leaders agreed in Brussels that the two continents should continue to strengthen links in spite of the serious financial and economic situation facing the European Union.
The Secretary-General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Colombian María Emma Mejía said that the region has shown “more imagination and audacity in the measures applied” than G7 countries, which are debating how to get out of the mess they are currently undergoing.