UNASUR Proposes CELAC Discussion of Natural Resources

Quito, January 28 (PL)- The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) proposed to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the second summit of which is being held in Cuba, the holding of meetings to discuss the issue of natural resources.

The proposal was presented by UNASUR General Secretary Ali Rodriguez, in a document published in Quito, where the general secretary's office of the South American bloc is headquartered.

Rodriguez explained that the issue of natural resources should be considered "as a possible dynamic and articulating core for all the rest of the strategies that could be designed, regarding industrialization, science and technology, as well as the usual complex problems with investments”.

In his opinion, it is imperative to condition any strategy and a joint plan between both blocs on the integration and unity processes for this huge gathering of nations.

Rodriguez recalled that Latin America and the Caribbean, with more than 20 million square kilometers and 600 million inhabitants, have an enormous potential for meeting the high expectations of their people.

In that regard, he mentioned the huge forest, water, mineral resources and biodiversity in the region, which have been historically exploited by powerful groups and not by their true owners, he clarified.

Such huge wealth is worthless if so many human beings are suffering such rates of unsatisfied needs, said Rodriguez, who recalled that more than 100 million Latin American and Caribbean people are still suffering the humiliation of poverty, abject poverty and hunger.

The UNASUR General Secretary also asserted that the CELAC summit in Havana represents a new impulse in the efforts by Latin American and Caribbean people to realize their ancestral dream of being united in a single nation.

He also said CELAC, UNASUR and the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our Americas (ALBA) are initiatives that have emerged at different times, but are now bringing together a huge number of countries, fated to play a major role in the world.