– Ecuadorian President echoes sentiments
The Chairman of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), President Bharrat Jagdeo, is confident of the economic stability of the 12-member group.
Speaking at a media conference at the close of the IV Regular summit, at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), President Jagdeo said that though the global financial crisis has had an effect the world over, the countries of UNASUR have continued to thrive, in some cases registering growth in their economies, as the impact in this part of the world was somewhat minimal.
He said that countries like Brazil and Guyana have continued to expand on social programmes and increased jobs, while most of the world’s larger players, especially in Europe and North America, have suffered widespread losses of jobs, homes and cuts in spending on social programmes.
What this demonstrates, the President pointed out, is that South America has been “marshalling its resources better than most other regions” and is developing its own “homegrown policies” to bolster the economies of its nations.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Ecuadorian President and Economist, Raphael Correa Delgado, who posited that the reason for the economic success enjoyed by UNASUR members lies in the fact that these nations “no longer follow orthodox economic policies…or IMF or World Bank recipes…we are looking for our own answers, our own solutions to our problems.”
President Correa said that the solutions found are based on the internal markets and reflect the “sovereign policy” of the nations.
President Jagdeo said though that the collective challenge rests in the abilities of the UNASUR members to “consolidate this gain, to reform the global institutions so that when we work hard, when we develop our societies, there is a sympathetic international economic and financial environment that allows us to prosper.” (GINA)