__FORCETOC__
The
Union of South American Nations (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
: -
UZAN, -
UNASUL, -
UNASUR) is an
intergovernmentalThe term Intergovernmentalism can mean different things:-A decision-making method:It is usually said that intergovernmentalism refers to the decision-making methods in international organisations, where power is possessed by the member states and decisions are often but not always made by unanimity...
union integrating two existing
customs unionA customs union is a is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas...
s:
MercosurMercosur or Mercosul is a Regional Trade Agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto...
and the
Andean Community of NationsThe Andean Community is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969...
, as part of a continuing process of
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
n integration. It is modeled on the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
.
The UNASUR
Constitutive TreatyThe Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations was signed on May 23, 2008 during the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Brasília, Brazil...
was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in
BrasíliaBrasília is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil, ahead of Belo Horizonte...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in
QuitoSan Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
,
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
.
__FORCETOC__
The
Union of South American Nations (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
: -
UZAN, -
UNASUL, -
UNASUR) is an
intergovernmentalThe term Intergovernmentalism can mean different things:-A decision-making method:It is usually said that intergovernmentalism refers to the decision-making methods in international organisations, where power is possessed by the member states and decisions are often but not always made by unanimity...
union integrating two existing
customs unionA customs union is a is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas...
s:
MercosurMercosur or Mercosul is a Regional Trade Agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto...
and the
Andean Community of NationsThe Andean Community is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969...
, as part of a continuing process of
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
n integration. It is modeled on the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
.
The UNASUR
Constitutive TreatyThe Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations was signed on May 23, 2008 during the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Brasília, Brazil...
was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in
BrasíliaBrasília is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil, ahead of Belo Horizonte...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in
QuitoSan Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
,
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
. The
South American ParliamentThe South American Parliament is a proposed body of the Union of South American Nations . The Constitutive Treaty of Unasur does not list it with the other bodies, and does not give any details on its composition. Article 17 states that the Parliament would be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia yet its...
will be located in
CochabambaCochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
,
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
, while its bank, the
Bank of the SouthThe Bank of the South ; or BancoSur is a monetary fund and lending organization first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The intention of the bank is to lend money to nations in the Americas for the construction of social programs and infrastructure...
' onMouseout='HidePop("13838")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Portuguese_language">Portuguese
Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
:
Banco do Sul,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Banco del Sur), will be located in
CaracasCaracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. It is located in the north of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range . The valley's temperatures are springlike. Terrain suitable for building lies between 760 and 910 m above...
,
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
. The Union's former designation, the
South American Community of Nations (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
: , , and ), abbreviated as
CSN, was dropped at the First
South American Energy SummitThe South American Energy Summit is the name for one of a sequence of summits bringing together delegations from the countries of the Union of South American Nations to discuss energy related issues.-First South American Energy Summit:...
on April 16, 2007.
Overview
At the
Third South American SummitThe 2004 South American Summit – the third of its kind, after earlier events in Brasília and Guayaquil – was held in Cuzco and Ayacucho, Peru, on 7–9 December 2004...
on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from 12
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
n nations signed the
Cuzco DeclarationThe Cusco Declaration, formally titled, Preamble to the Foundation Act of the South American Union, is a two-page declaration of intent signed by 12 South American countries during the Third South American Summit, on December 8, 2004, in Cusco, Peru, announcing the foundation of the South American...
, a two-page statement of intent announcing the foundation of the South American Community.
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
and
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
attended the signing ceremony as observers.
The group announced their intention to model the new community after the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to
Allan Wagner TizónAllan Wagner Tizón is a Peruvian diplomat.He was the Secretary General of the Andean Community from 2004 until 2006, when he resigned to become Peru's Defense Minister. He was the foreign minister of Peru from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 until 2003...
, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.
The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in
BrasíliaBrasília is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil, ahead of Belo Horizonte...
on 29 September–30 September 2005. An important operating condition of UNASUR is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase
bureaucracyBureaucracy is the collective organizational structure, procedures, protocols, and set of regulations in place to manage activity, usually in large organizations and government...
, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs.
Structure
At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:
- The presidents of each member nation will have an annual meeting, which will be the superior political mandate. The first meeting was in Brasília
Brasília is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil, ahead of Belo Horizonte...
(Brazil) on September 29 and September 30, 2005. The second meeting was in CochabambaCochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
(Bolivia) on December 8 and December 9, 2006. The third meeting was held in BrasíliaBrasília is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil, ahead of Belo Horizonte...
on May 23, 2008.
- The ministers of foreign affairs of each country will meet once every six months. They will formulate concrete proposals of action and of executive decision. The President of the Mercosur's permanent representatives committee and the director of the Mercosur's department, the Andean Community's general secretary, ALADI
The Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración is a Latin American trade integration association, based in Montevideo. Its main objective is the establishment of a common market, in pursuit of the economic and social development of the region...
's general secretary and the permanent secretaries of any institution for regional cooperation and integration, Amazon Cooperation Treaty OrganizationThe Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization is an international organization aimed at the promotion of sustainable development of the Amazon Basin. Its member states are: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela....
among others, will also be present at these meetings.
- A Secretary General would be elected, to establish a permanent secretariat in Quito, Ecuador.
- Sectorial Ministers' meeting will be called upon by the presidents. The meetings will be developed according to Mercosur's and CAN's mechanisms.
- The temporary Presidency will be held for a year and will rotate among the member countries between each UNASUR meeting. According to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue , which was signed during the I South American Energy Summit, a general permanent office will be created and this will be hosted in Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
.
- On December 9, 2005 a special commission
A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of types of agency...
was established in charge of advancing the process of South American Integration . It consists of 12 members, whose function is to elaborate proposals that will help the process of integration between the South American nations.
- An Executive Commission, which was created by the II CSN meeting, was transformed in the Political Commission or Delegates Council, according to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue.
Current work in progress
Michael Shifter of the Washington D.C.
Inter-American Dialogue-About the Dialogue:The Inter-American Dialogue is a U.S. based think tank for policy analysis, exchange, and communication on issues in Western Hemisphere affairs...
called UNASUR a "
pipe dreamA pipe dream is a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve.Pipe dream may also refer to:In music:* Pipedream , the first solo album from Lindisfarne front man Alan Hull...
for now", while saying that "economic conditions in the region have never been riper for this sort of integration".
Single market
- One of the initiatives of UNASUR is the creation of a single market
A common market is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a customs union with common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of production and of enterprise. The goal is that the movement of capital, labour, goods, and services between the members is as easy as...
, beginning with the elimination of tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014 and sensitive products by 2019.
Infrastructure cooperation
- There is an Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America
The Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America is a development plan to link South America's economies through new transportation, energy, and telecommunications projects....
(IIRSA) underway, which has received the support of the Inter-American Development BankThe Inter-American Development Bank is an international organization established and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean economic and social development and regional integration by lending mainly to governments and...
and the Andean Development Corporation.
- UNASUR started plans of integration through infrastructure cooperation with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway
The Interoceanic Highway or Trans-oceanic highway is an international, transcontinental highway in Peru and Brazil that is under construction. It entails the renovation and construction of roughly 2,600 kilometers of roads and 22 bridges...
, a road that intends to more firmly link the Pacific Coast countries, especially ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
with BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
by extending highways through the continent, allowing better connections to ports to Bolivia and the inner parts of Argentina, Peru and Brazil. The first corridor, between Peru and Brazil, began construction in September 2005, financed 60% by Brazil and 40% by Peru, is expected to be ready by the end of 2009.
- The South American Energy Ring is intended to interconnect Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay with natural gas from several sources, such as the Camisea Gas Project
The Camisea Gas Project extracts natural gas originating near the Urubamba River in central Peru.- Location :The main pipeline begins at the Camisea Gas Field in the Amazon Rainforest, traverses through the steep Andes mountains, and terminates within the Paracas National Reservation near San...
in Peru and Tarija Gas Deposits in Bolivia. Though this proposal has been signed and ratified, economic and political difficulties in Argentina and Bolivia have delayed this initiative, and to date, this agreement remains more like a protocol than an actual project, since Chile and Brazil are already building LNG terminals to import gas from overseas suppliers.
Free movement of people
- Visits by South American citizens to any South American country of up to 90 days require only the presentation of an identity card issued by the respective authority of the travellers' country of origin. On 24 November 2006, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela waived visa requirements for tourism travel between nationals of said countries.
Economic development
Presidents of the seven founding countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay) officially launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The heads of all the founding countries were at the ceremony, with the exception of President
Tabaré VázquezTabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas is the current President of Uruguay. A physician by training, he is a member of the centre-left Broad Front coalition...
of Uruguay. 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 SouthThe Bank of the South ; or BancoSur is a monetary fund and lending organization first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The intention of the bank is to lend money to nations in the Americas for the construction of social programs and infrastructure...
will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states. Chile and Colombia participated on initial meeting, but decided not to join the project due to their objection to
Hugo ChavezHugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the President of Venezuela. As the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Chávez promotes a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation...
's influence in the bank's creation.
The founding chart affirms that the Bank will promote projects in "stable and equal" manner and priorities will be pointed to reinforce South American integration, to reduce asymmetries, and to promote egalitarian distribution of investments.
The Brazilian Minister, Guido Mantega, stated that the bank is not similar to the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
; it will be a credit institution similar to the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
or the BIRD.
Defence policy
The
South American Defence Council (SADC) was proposed by Venezuela and Brazil to serve as a NATO-like mechanism for regional security, promoting military co-operation and regional defence.
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
initially refused to sign up to the defence council due to its strong military ties it has with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
through the
Plan ColombiaThe term Plan Colombia is most often used to refer to U.S. legislation aimed at curbing drug smuggling by supporting different Drug War activities in Colombia. Plan Colombia also refers to a wider aid initiative originally proposed by Colombian President Andrés Pastrana Arango, which contemplated...
. However after reviewing the proposal they decided to join on July 20, 2008. Shortly following the signing by Colombia's President, President of Chile
Michelle BacheletVerónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a center-left politician and the current President of Chile—the first woman to hold this position in the country's history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right billionaire businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera,...
appointed a working group to investigate and draft a plan for the new council. Finally on March 10, 2009, the 12 nation members held its first meeting in Chile of the newly formed council.
Participating nation states
- Members of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN)¹
The Andean Community is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969...
:
- Members of Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is a Regional Trade Agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto...
²:
¹
These countries are also considered to be associate members of Mercosur
²
These countries are also considered to be associate members of the Andean Community.
³
Guyana and Suriname are currently members of CARICOM and entered its single marketThe CARICOM Single Market and Economy also known as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy or CSME is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community which took place in July 1989 in Grand Anse, Grenada...
in 2006. It is unknown if simultaneous UNASUR and CARICOM membership would be possible to accomplish; these states may remain UNASUR associate members only.
Non-participating territories
The following parts of South America are dependent territories and therefore do not participate:
- French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil and Suriname. Like the other DOMs, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France. Its currency is the euro...
, which is an overseas department of FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and is therefore part of the European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
- The Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
and South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. This territory is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, the South Sandwich Islands...
, which are overseas territories of the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, though claimed by Argentina. (see Sovereignty of the Falkland IslandsThe sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has been the subject of dispute between the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Argentina , for more than two centuries...
and Sovereignty of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsThe sovereignty of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is disputed between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The United Kingdom annexed the islands in 1908 and exercises de facto control with the exception of a brief period during the Falklands War in 1982...
.)
Name change
On 28 December 2005,
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the name of the community be changed to
South American Union (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
:
Zuid-Amerikaanse Unie,
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
:
União Sul-Americana,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Unión Sudamericana); nevertheless, many members stated to him that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion related to its acronym (U.S.A. in comparison to the United States of America).
The name was finally changed on April 16, 2007 to "Union of South American Nations" , abbreviated "UNASUR" in Spanish and "UNASUL" in Portuguese. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the South American Energy Summit held at
Isla MargaritaMargarita Island is the largest island of the Nueva Esparta state in Venezuela, situated in the Caribbean Sea, off the northeastern coast of the country. The state also contains two other smaller islands: Coche and Cubagua. The capital is La Asunción, located in a river valley of the same name....
,
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
.
See also
- Continental union
A continental union, often abbreviated to CU, is an inter-governmental or supra-national political union of nations located in the same continent, or close to it...
- Free Trade Area of the Americas
The Free Trade Area of the Americas was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 nations met in Miami, Florida, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal...
- Latin American integration
The integration of Latin America has a history going back to Spanish American and Brazilian independence, when there was discussion of creating a regional state or confederation of Latin American nations to protect the area's newly won autonomy...
- Latin American Integration Association
The Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración is a Latin American trade integration association, based in Montevideo. Its main objective is the establishment of a common market, in pursuit of the economic and social development of the region...
- Latin American Parliament
The Latin American Parliament , is a regional, permanent and unicameral organism, integrated from the national Parliaments of Latin America, elected democratically by means of universal suffrage in countries that ratified the corresponding Treaty of Institutionalization on November 16 1987 in Lima,...
- Rio Group
The Rio Group is an international organization of Latin American and some Caribbean states...
External links