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2004 South American Summit
The 2004 South American Summit – the third of its kind, after earlier events in Brasilia (September 2000) and Guayaquil (July 2002) – was held in Cuzco and Ayacucho, Peru, on 7–9 December 2004. Officially it constituted the Extraordinary Meeting of the Andean Presidential Council and was also billed as the Third Meeting of Presidents of South America (III Reunion de Presidentes de America del Sur).
The main item on the agenda was the signature, by heads of state and plenipotentiary representatives of 12 South American nations, of the Cuzco Declaration, a two-page document containing a preamble to the deed of foundation of the South American Community of Nations (or "South American Union"), uniting the region's two existing free-trade organisations – Mercosur and the Andean Community.
Ayacucho was chosen for symbolic reasons: it was there that Antonio Jose de Sucre, fighting under the banner of Simon Bolivar "the Liberator", defeated the last Imperial Spanish troops in South America on 9 December 1824.
While the organisation's exact nature and functions – and even its name – remain unclear, it aspires to evolve along the lines followed by the continental integration efforts of the European Union, rather than becoming a mere free-trade area. The initiative emerged – largely at the instigation of Brazil – in response to the failed negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA process has been stalemated for more than 12 months in the wake of irreconcilable differences, largely along the geopolitical faultlines between Latin America and the Caribbean on the one hand and the United States and Canada on the other.
Participating nations
Argentina – Nestor Kirchner not attending
Bolivia – represented by Carlos Mesa
Brazil – represented by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Colombia – represented by Alvaro Uribe
Chile – represented by Ricardo Lagos
Ecuador – Lucio Gutierrez not attending
Guyana – represented by Bharrat Jagdeo
Paraguay – Nicanor Duarte not attending
Peru – represented by Alejandro Toledo
Suriname – represented by Ronald Venetiaan
Uruguay – Jorge Batlle not attending
Venezuela – represented by Hugo Chavez
Mexico (Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez) and Panama (President
Martin Torrijos) are also attending the event, with nonparticipating observer status.
External links
Sudamerica y un viejo sueno – Eduardo Duhalde, former President of Argentina
Uniendo esfuerzos para el desarrollo – Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros, former Foreign Minister of Peru
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article 2004 South American Summit
