Chavez expresses confidence in Jagdeo’s chairmanship of UNASUR

Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, is confident that President Bharrat Jagdeo’s leadership capabilities will enable him to chair the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) effectively.

Chavez is also confident that Jagdeo will lead UNASUR into success with objectivity, and will bring about concrete actions, GINA said in a news release.

The Venezuelan President attended the 1V Regular Summit of UNASUR, which was held in Guyana on November 26th at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. 

Chavez said: “We know about the will of President Jagdeo and also of the Guyanese people. “We are certain that (President) Jagdeo, in taking the reins (of UNASUR), is going to be a masterful chairman.”

Chavez pledged his country’s commitment and willingness to cooperate with President Jagdeo and UNASUR for the successful execution of Jagdeo’s task as Chairman of UNASUR. “We are with Guyana, and we are with UNASUR,” he vowed.

There has been continuous strengthening of relations between Guyana and Venezuela, driven by the foreign policies of both countries, as the two nations maintain intense trade in minerals, food, chemicals and wood.

President Chavez played a key role in the creation of UNASUR in 2004, prior to its constitution at a summit in Brasilia on May 23rd, 2008.

At that summit, 12 South American countries, namely Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay, formally constituted UNASUR, a regional integration initiative which includes a parliament, a presidential forum and a secretariat.

UNASUR’s main tasks are to eliminate poverty and illiteracy, and to provide the structural pillars for South American unity.

According to President Chavez, UNASUR culminates Latin America’s long search for unity. “Only in unity will we later have progressively complete political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and military independence,” he stated.

UNASUR includes an Energy Security Council to diversify and conserve energy and the environment, and the South American Defence Council.

President Chavez was also lauded by fellow South American leaders as the main peacemaker during the attempted coup in Ecuador earlier this year, when he played a key role in resolving the crisis.