Truemors
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Today,12 October 2007, a trans-oceanic gas pipeline was inaugurated during a trilateral meeting among Presidents of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa met Alvaro Uribe at Manaure, Colombia, to unveil the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline which would carry 4.2 millions cubic meters of gas to daily. This project with an initial estimated cost of US$ 325 millions and a 220 Km. is expected to expand as long as Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.
A meeting of Alvaro Uribe and Rafael Correa is rather meaningful after Colombia and Ecuador had trouble in their common border. Use of pesticide by Bogotá and the recent crossing of Colombian refugees have caused some diplomatic impasses.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />There was much expectation of a common press conference taking place among the Presidents. Chavez invited Colombia to join a regional monetary fund called Banco del Sur, which is expected to start working from Caracas in November 2007; Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela are already members of this Bank of the South initiative. In response, Colombian Presdent, Alvaro Uribe, formally submitted an application to join Banco del Sur. On the humanitarian deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to release hostages, Chavez expressed his willingness to meet soon. Presidents of Colombia and Ecuador, Uribe and Correa, invited Venezuela to rejoin the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).President Correa proposed the creation of a common currency and ask other countries to create a US$200 billion fund. Colombia is to hold the first meeting of the Union of South American Nations -UNASUR - next year. This supranational and intergovernmental union is to unite regional initiatives like Mercosur and CAN. Modelled like the European Union, UNASUR was created in the Cuzco Summit in 2004.
Sources: Telesur, Globovision, RNV, ABN, VTV, Caracol, El Colombiano, Presidencia de Colombia,
Related stories: Rafael Correa in Caracas, Colombian-Venezuelan crossing opens soon
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