Maduro to Accept Mercosur Presidency on Behalf of the Venezuelan People

Venezuelan Mercosur presidency to strengthen unity and development in the region

11/07/2013

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On July 12, Venezuela will assume the presidency pro tempore of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), with the aim of strengthening unity among Latin American countries and spurring their development.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro noted that the economic bloc had changed in the past few years, becoming a mechanism “that transcends economics [and] trade, and is becoming a social bloc, a political bloc, a social Mercosur, a political Mercosur.”

Moreover, Maduro said he would accept the Mercosur presidency on behalf of the great Venezuelan people and former President Hugo Chávez, who fought for the integration of the peoples of South America.

In tweet from his @nicolasmaduro account, he wrote: “On my way to Uruguay to accept the Mercosur presidency on behalf of the great Venezuelan people. Long live the greater homeland! Long live Chávez!”

Maduro recently stated that in Venezuela’s six month term as president of Mercosur, the country will promote “social development, cultural unity, [and] the construction of a new identity for our peoples”, as well as spur “economic, energy and structural integration among [member] nations.”

“We came to Mercosur with a vision of strengthening and consolidating it; of expanding it and making it the great motor and great magnet of economic unity of a new chapter in history,” the President said.

He also stressed that the goal is to foment “true development in South America and beyond, in Latin America and the Caribbean.” To this end, Maduro proposed the creation of a productive economic zone for Latin America and the Caribbean as a tool for integration in strengthening the bloc.

“Mercosur is the motor of unity in the new Latin America and Caribbean economic zone. We should integrate Mercosur with ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America], with PetroCaribe and with Caricom [Caribbean Community]. Those are steps that must be taken and that we will push for from the presidency,” he explained.

Maduro went on to note that Venezuela’s tenure in the presidency would be based on six pillars. The first of those is to foment the formation and ability of production and exportation in Venezuela.

The second involves research, innovation and technology transfer, “which will allow us to break free from underdevelopment and dependency in the field of technological development linked to economic development.”

The third pillar is about investment in production and the promotion of exports; the fourth consist of deepening industrialization in the country; the fifth is oriented toward development infrastructure to connect Latin America and the Caribbean; and the sixth is related to distributing and marketing exports.

The Legacy of Chávez

In assuming the pro tempore presidency of the bloc, the Venezuelan government will continue the path set by the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez Frías, who thought of Mercosur as a geopolitical project that could benefit the peoples of Latin America.

“We have the right historical perspective. Our north is the South. We are where we should always have been. We are where Bolívar asked us to be,” then President Chávez expressed during a Mercosur Summit in Brasilia in July 2012, where Venezuela’s integration into the regional bloc was formalized.

In his speech at the Summit, Chávez indicated that Mercosur is “the most important engine to preserve our independence and to assure our comprehensive development. He also highlighted that Venezuela’s entry into the bloc would create “acceleration and geopolitical changes; deep changes,” and stressed that future developments “would be greater than what we witnessed in the past decade…. We want to cooperate in the design of new plans, beyond commerce. Now Mercosur reaches towards the Caribbean … [with] a set of strategic plans, financing, [and] development. We can figure out the perfect equation [for] food, energy and social matters to bring out people out of misery, hunger and poverty, to convert the region into a great zone.”

Opportunities in Mercosur

With Venezuela’s entry into the regional bloc, Mercosur now represents 83.2% of South America’s GDP, with a population is 270 million people (70% of the South American total) and the highest oil reserves in the world, certified at nearly 300 billion barrels.

Mercosur will facilitate the establishment of complementary chains of production in manufacturing, industry, science and technology through trade agreements that, as of today, are worth $11 billion for Venezuela.

Trade with Brazil is worth $6 billion, while trade with Argentina is worth $3 billion, and with Uruguay trade is $2 billion.

A total of 51 accords were formalized on May 13th during President Nicolás Maduro’s tour of Mercosur member countries.

AVN / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / July 12, 2013

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