— Foreign Minister reports
FOREIGN Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, feels the agreement by Presidents of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to the Additional Protocol to the grouping’s Constitutive Treaty on Commitment to Democracy, also referred to as the Democratic Clause, was among the highlights of the summit here last week.
The clause, she stated, was the most important task of the Foreign Ministers who met Thursday, as it was of utmost importance for all of the countries. The clause was approved and signed Friday by the Presidents at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
“The meeting went very well, the delegates, the Council of Ministers and the summit went very well. We were able to achieve all that we set out to do and this is a very significant achievement,” Ms. Rodrigues-Birkett stated.
The democratic clause was developed by UNASUR and the countries can look at the work that they have inserted into the clause as “it is something that would live with our country for a very long time”, she said.
Part of the clause states that the Protocol shall apply in the event of a breach or threat of breach against the democratic order, a violation of the constitutional order or any situation that jeopardises the legitimate exercising of power and the application of the values and principles of democracy.
With regards to the deepening of relations among South American countries, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett said that Guyana has traditionally pursued relations with other English-speaking countries with a similar history but is now expanding those relations to its South American counterparts in a very intimate way.
“For a long time we looked across continent rather than in the continent and I think UNASUR is where we are looking inwardly, looking at what we can do together as independent countries; looking at what are our similarities, certainly considering our differences as well. But I think what I see is the real coming together of all of the countries and I think because we are on that one space of land on South America, there is a lot that we can do once our countries are connected”, the Minister said.
Citing Guyana’s trade relations with Brazil, she said there is potential for increased trade among South American countries.
The Foreign Minister said several other issues were discussed at the meeting, including the assigning of the seven councils to various member states and the establishment of the permanent secretariat.

(GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AGENCY)