Caracas, May 15, 2014 (PL).- The Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Ali Rodriguez, stressed the importance of promoting the joint use of existing natural resources in the region.

According to state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Rodriguez addressed the issue during the installation of the 18th Meeting of Experts of the Energy’s Council of UNASUR, involving nine delegations of the 12 member nations.

We must think about the use of natural resources in a unified way and the importance of the extraction and processing of raw materials, together, to transcend the impulse of science and technology, he said Rodríguez.

Rodriguez said that coordinated efforts will help to develop a new financial architecture in the region, capable of boosting the projects being implemented by the member countries, in order not to depend on international financial agencies said.

UNASUR is conceived as a space for agreements between member countries in order to improve both democratic stability, as the defense of sovereignty in the specific field of economic development for the benefit of their populations.

At present, the greatest strength of the organization is the huge wealth of natural resources existing in this region, he said.