The Government of Guyana as Chair of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) hosted the II Meeting of the Council on Social Development and the XXIX Meeting of the Council of Delegates at the Guyana International Conference Centre on March 28-29 and March 30-31, respectively.
A press release from the Head of UNASUR Pro Tempore Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Audrey Jardine-Waddell had indicated that the Meeting of the Council on Social Development was projected to review the 2009 – 2011 Plan of Action, which had been adopted by the First Meeting of the Council in Ecuador in 2009.
The Action Plan included the formulation of guidelines for the establishment of common social development policies among UNASUR member states, as well as the creation of technical working groups in the field of Social Development and the promotion of cooperation in border areas in an effort to reduce poverty in those areas.
During the plenary sessions, the Council of Delegates also reviewed the activities of the various Councils and working Groups of UNASUR in order to provide guidance to the work being undertaken by these bodies in 2011.
Several weeks prior, UNASUR foreign ministers met in Quito, Ecuador, to celebrate the entry into force of the UNASUR Constitutive Treaty and discuss the appointment of a Secretary-General.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds represented Guyana, which holds the chair of the bloc, in Argentina for discussions on the selection of a new Secretary-General of UNASUR to replace the late Nestor Kirchner who died in October of last year.
On November 26, Guyana hosted 12 Heads of State and Delegations of the 12 member states of UNASUR for the IV Regular Summit at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, where the chairmanship of the union was handed over from Ecuadorian President Raphael Correa to President Jagdeo.  This was a signal accomplishment for the Jagdeo-led regime.
The South American leaders, especially then Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez all expressed confidence in President Jagdeo’s leadership.
Last Monday, at State House, President Bharrat Jagdeo, Pro Tempore Chairman of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) installed Maria Emma Mejia Velez as Secretary General to the body. During his address, the UNASUR Chairman encouraged her to pursue a continental economic model that would focus on lifting people out of poverty and not just on creating wealth.
The President said: “We need our own economic model, one that allows plurality – private sector, the state developing economic activities. One thing most of our countries agreed on is that the neo-liberal model of the past did not work for South America and almost every leader agreed on that.
“With [the neo-liberal model] comes a whole range of instability and a lot of the progress we made on the poverty front was reversed because of the imported global crises on our economy because of the openness of those. So without departing from principles which allow plurality of views, we must forge a South American economic model that focuses not just on generating wealth but lifting people out of poverty.”
Plurality of views hallmarks the Jagdeo administration, and is certainly the ethos guiding the PPP vision for the country.   This is the Jagdeo legacy.  It has been the essential ingredient in a Presidency that has taken Guyana to new heights of respect in the global and regional landscapes.