– wants President Lula’s integration legacy to continue
President Bharrat Jagdeo performed a dual role as Chairman of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and an ambassador of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) when he highlighted the importance for bringing the regions of South America and CARICOM together. The Guyanese Head of State was at the time participating in a plenary session of the Mercusor Summit yesterday in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, when he made the call, noting that it can form a sizeable bloc strong enough to impact every major global decision.

Despite the relatively small size of the CARICOM Region in terms of geography, population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the UNASUR Chairman is still optimistic that there is a huge opportunity for CARICOM to integrate in Mercusor and South America.
He said that given the imbalances in the global arena, it is important for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Global Trade Affairs to find a special niche for small countries.

“We have just emerged from a situation where we had to negotiate an agreement with the European Union that is based upon full reciprocity. How can a country with 35,000 people, like St. Kitts and Nevis, trade with the European Union and the USA? ” President Jagdeo asked.
Even as Dilma Rousseff succeeds President Lula as the new leader of Brazil, President Jagdeo expressed the hope that President Lula’s legacy of pushing a trade agreement between the Caribbean and Mercusor continues.
The Brazil-CARICOM summit was seen as the initiation of the process of integration involving Latin America and the Caribbean countries and, according to President Jagdeo, the process provides the main tools to argue the case for special preferential treatment in trading arrangements.

“I hope that we will see the same support that we have from President Lula in pushing a trade agreement between the Caribbean and Mercusor, and that the new Brazilian government will be, as has always been, supportive of this striving to integrate the Caribbean even though we are not a technical trading entity,” President Jagdeo said.
Mercosur was established on March 26, 1991, when the Presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Asunciуn Treaty in Paraguay, declaring the establishment of the group.

The body was established with the aim of promoting the scientific and technological progress and economic modernization of its member states, to improve people’s livelihood and to advance the economic integrated process in Latin America.
In 2008, Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations formed an inter-governmental union which became the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
Guyana assumed the presidency of UNASUR on November 26, and President Jagdeo assured that all efforts will be made to ensure that President Lula’s momentum of South American/CARICOM union continues. (GINA)