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The 'Union of South American Nations' (, and , abbreviated as 'Unasur' and 'Unasul') is a fledgling supranational and intergovernmental union that will unite two existing free-trade organizations – Mercosur and the Andean Community – as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modelled on the European Union.
According to agreements made thus far, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, while the location of its bank, the Bank of the South (Banco del Sur), is still under discussion (one proposal would establish it in Quito, Ecuador, as well). The Union's former designation, the 'South American Community of Nations' ( and , abbreviated as 'CSN'; ) was dropped at the First South American Energy Summit on April 16 2007.^[1]
Complete integration of the Andean Community and Mercosur to create Unasur/Unasul is expected by the Summit to be held in Colombia in December 2007.

Contents

Overview

Origins

Structure

Current work in progress

Single market

Infrastructure cooperation

Free movement of people

Monetary Policy

Participating nations

Full members

Observer states

Non-participating territories

Facts and figures

Comparison with other regional blocs

Quotes

Proposed name change

See also

References

External links

Articles, Editorials, and Reports

Overview

At the Third South American Summit, on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from twelve South American nations signed the ''Cuzco Declaration'', a two-page statement of intent, announcing the foundation of the South American Community. Panama attended the signing ceremony as an observer.
The leaders announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union, including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner, 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 Brasília on 29 September-30 September 2005. An important operating condition of Unasur/Unasul is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase bureaucracy, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs. A constitutional treaty is also expected to be drafted.

Origins

Simón Bolívar, directly responsible for the independence of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, part of Peru and Bolivia in the early years of the 19th century, and honored with statues in the capital cities of practically every Latin American nation had the goal of creating a federation of nations to ensure prosperity and security after independence. Bolívar never achieved this goal, and died an unpopular figure because of his heavy-handed attempts to establish strong central governments in the nations he led to independence. Throughout the years, many in South America have called for social, political, and economic union. Unasur/Unasul is a concrete step towards the achievement of such union.

Structure

At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:

★ The presidents of each member nation will have an annual meeting, this will be the superior political mandate. The first meeting was in Brasilia on September 29 and September 30 2005. The second meeting was in Cochabamba (Bolivia) on December 8 and December 9 2006. The third meeting will be held in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) in 2007.

★ 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´s general secretary and the permanent secretaries of any institution for regional cooperation and integration, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization among others, will also be present at these meetings.

★ A Secretary General would be elected, to establish a permanent secretariat in Quito, Ecuador. Former Ecuadorian President Rodrigo Borja has been nominated for this position.

★ Sectorial Ministers´ meeting will be called up by the presidents. The will be developed according to Mercosur's and CAN's mechanisms.

★ The temporary Presidency will be held for a year and will be rotative among the member countries between each CSN meeting. Former presidents: Peru (2004), Brazil (2005) and Bolivia (2006). According to ''Decisiones del Diálogo Político'', which was signed during the I South American Energy Summit, a general permanent office will be created and this will be hosted in Quito (Ecuador).

★ On December 9 2005 a Comisión Estratégica de Reflexión sobre el Proceso de Integración Sudamericano (Commission in charge of impulsing the process of South American integration) was created. It consists of 12 members, whose function is to elaborate proposals that will help the process of integration between the South American nations. These proposals were to be done for the II CSN meeting (2006).

★ Executives Commission, which was created by the II CSN meeting, was transformed in the Political Commission or Delegates Council, according to the ''Decisiones del Diálogo Político'', and

★ It is expected that for the III CSN meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, December 2007, an agreement to constitute UNASUR will be ready.

Current work in progress

Single market

★ One of the initiatives of Unasur is the creation of a single market, 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 (IIRSA) underway, which has received the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation.

★ Unasur/Unasul started plans of integration through infrastructure cooperation with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway, a road that intends to more firmly link Peru with Brazil by extending a highway through Bolivia, giving that country a path to the sea, while Brazil would obtain access to the Pacific Ocean and Peru to the Atlantic Ocean. Construction started in September 2005, financed 60% by Brazil and 40% by Peru. It is estimated to be done by 2009.

★ The South American Energy Ring (Anillo Energético Sudamericano/Anel Energético Sul-Americano) will supply Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay with natural gas from the Camisea Gas Project in Peru. This proposal has been signed and ratified, and construction began in 2006.

Free movement of people

★ Visits by South American citizens to any South American country (except French Guyana) of up to 90 days require only the presentation of an ID card. 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. ^[2]

Monetary Policy

★ The South American Bank (Banco del Sur), will establish monetary policy, and finance development projects. One of the goals of monetary union is the establishment of a single South American currency. Support for such currency was voiced on January 2007 by Peruvian President Alan García, and has been backed by other South American nations. ^[3]

Participating nations

Full members

★ Members of the Andean Community (CAN)¹:

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★ (started in 2006 the process of joining Mercosur)

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★

★
★

★
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★ Members of Mercosur²:

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★

★
★

★
★

★
★

★
★

★ Other countries:

★
★ ¹ ²

★
★ ³

★
★ ³
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 market in 2006. It is unknown if simultaneous Unasur and CARICOM membership would be possible to accomplish and most probably these states will remain Unasur associate members only.

Observer states

★

★ (Mexico is not located in South America; it is already part of the NAFTA bloc)

Non-participating territories

The following South American areas are dependent territories and therefore do not participate:

★ French Guiana, which is a ''département d'outre-mer'' of France and is therefore part of the European Union

★ The Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, which are overseas territories of the United Kingdom, subject of claims of sovereignty by Argentina. (Compare Sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.)

Facts and figures

★ Has a GDP at current currency exchange rate of 1,917.8 billion dollars as estimated by the IMF in 2006. Due to robust currencies and economies, it up from 1,506.8 billion in 2005 (World Bank). See List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal).

★ Its population of 361 million people.

★ Covers an area of over 17 million square kilometers, larger than the largest country, Russia

★ The export earnings amount to 181 billion 856 million dollars

★ Possesses 27% of the world's freshwater sources

★ Has eight million square kilometers of forested land and is surrounded by two oceans

★ Is the world's foremost food producer and exporter

★ Its stock of hydrocarbon resources will last 100 years

★ Some 95 percent of its inhabitants share a single religion

★ The great majority of its inhabitants speak one of two mutually intelligible world languages (Spanish & Portuguese)

★ Has a common history and shared values

Comparison with other regional blocs

Quotes

''We are here to make Simón Bolívar's dream real. [...] Sooner, rather than later, we shall have a single currency, a single passport... Sooner, rather than later, we shall have a parliament with directly elected representatives for this new nation that we are creating today.'' —Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, 8 December 2004.

''Step by step CAN and Mercosur will converge becoming the South American Community, but gradually disappearing at the same time. But in spite of the haste there’s no rush, because we could end with an empty declaration. [...] My idea is that in a few months time CAN should be known as South American Community-CAN and Mercosur, South American Community MS, so we have time to get in touch with the new initials.'' —Former Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde, president of the Mercosur Representatives Committee.

Proposed name change

On 28 December 2005, Chilean foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the name of the community be changed to ''South American Union'' (Spanish: ''Unión Sudamericana'', Portuguese: ''União Sul-Americana''); nevertheless, many members stated to him that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion related to its acronym (U.S.A.).
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 Margarita, Venezuela.

See also

★ Latin American Parliament (Parlatino)

★ South America

★ History of South America

★ Economy of South America

★ Brazil

★ Continental union

★
★ African Union

★
★ Asian Union

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★ Central Asian Union

★
★ European Union

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★ Pacific Union

★ Free Trade Area of the Americas

★ List of Trade blocs

★ Rio Group

References

1. "Chávez: Presidentes acordaron llamar Unasur a integración política regional" ''La Tercera'', accesed on April 16 2007.
2. CNN
3. People in English

External links

★ Andean Community: South American Community of Nations

★ Brazil Ministry of Foreign Relations: South American Community of Nations

★ Tinku: Unasur/Mercosur

★ Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America

★ Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean

★ Latin-American Integration Association

★ Do the Mercosur Countries Form an Optimum Currency Area?

★ Bank Information Center: Bank of the South

Articles, Editorials, and Reports

★ MercoPress (2004-11-10): S. American Community Comes to Light December 9

★ Miami Herald (2004-11-25): South American Community May Not Be a Pipe Dream

★

★ Inter Press Service (2004-12-07): Chile Seeks Integration through Energy and Roads

★ Inter Press Service (2004-12-07): One Giant Step - and 32 Small Ones

★ BBC News (2004-12-09): A Dream With Many Hurdles

★ International Herald Tribune (2004-12-27): U.S. Neighbor Relations: Latin America Is No Joke

★ Guyana Journal (2005-10): South American Community of Nations To Map out Economic Strategies

★ VenezuelAnalysis (2006-09-27): The Push for South American Integration

★ BBC News (2006-11-25): S American 12 Cut Travel Red Tape

★ Guyana Journal (2006-12): South American Summit in Bolivia Sets Integration Challenges

★ Inter Press Service (2006-12-08): The Big Challenges of Regional Integration

★ AP (2006-12-09): South American Leaders Dream of Integration, Continental Parliament

★ BBC News (2006-12-09): S America Launches Trading Bloc

★ BBC News (2006-12-10): Lat-Am Leaders End Second Summit

★ Guyana Journal (2007-01): High-level Commission to Map Ideas for South American Union

★ Inter Press Service (2007-01-03): South American Integration - or Disintegration?

★ EUMA (2007-03): Origin and Evolution of the South American Community of Nations: From Trade to Security Concerns

★ EUMA (2007-04): Governance in South American Integration: Insights and Encouragement from the European Union

★ Granma International (2007-04-18): Union of South American Nations: Where Energy Resources Will Be the Basis of Development

★ Guyana Journal (2007-05): South American Leaders put Energy Integration on Front Burner