The ministers of economy of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will meet on Friday in Peru to analyze repercussions in the wave of the global financial crisis, and agree measures to be adopted to confront the economic situation.

The ministers will coordinate actions to defend local economies from financial speculation. The meeting will pave the way actions for a coming meeting to be held in Argentina on August 12.

Uruguay’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luis Almagro, said that the goal is to “study the implementation of regional measures,” considering the financial crisis in the U.S., and analyze “how it can affect trade and economy of the Latin American nations.”

Almagro said that one of the issues that concern the countries of the region is “the repercussion before a fall in the dollar reflected in the production costs.”

For his part, Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ricardo Patiño, stated that proposals like the development of the Monetary Fund of the South, the consolidation of the Bank of the South and the expansion of the Unified System of Regional Compensation (SUCRE) -a proposed regional currency to be used in commercial exchanges – will be discussed.

One of the measures that has reached most consensus among UNASUR member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela) is the banning and limiting of funds for speculative purposes, according to the Argentine website Página 12.

In a UNASUR meeting of presidents held in Peru last week, during the inauguration ceremony of Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos, mentioned the speculation issue.

“It’s not possible that capital comes in and damages everybody; when they don’t find speculative advantages in a country they end getting them in another,” said Santos.
“Capital can come, but just to invest not to speculate,” agreed Fernández.

The agenda of the coming meeting of the South American bloc in Argentina includes the creation of Council of Economy and Finances of the UNASUR. This new agency will be aimed at proposing a number of measures to be implemented in a short-term, including trade de-dollarization in the region and the full consolidation of the Bank of the South.

Historical Meeting

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez informed that he reviewed with his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, issues to be discussed today in Lima, during the meeting of economy ministers.

Early this week, Maduro said that today’s UNASUR meeting of ministers and presidents of central banks has a historical importance, after the last the increase of the debt ceiling in the U.S.

On the eve of the meeting, the New York stock exchange reported a historical fall since the 2008 financial crisis, plummeting the prices of shares due to constant concerns for the state of the U.S. and European economies.

Down Jones index was down over 500 points, which caused losses of more than 1,2000 points since July 21, news agencies reported.

AVN / Telesur / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S.

Source: MINCI