Upon his arrival at the South America – Arab Countries Summit, Brazil’s special presidential adviser on International Affairs, Marco Aurélio Garcia, said that Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Nelson Kirchner, from Argentina, and Hugo Chávez, from Venezuela, expressed their desire at a meeting yesterday for the integration process among the three countries to proceed more quickly.
According to Garcia, this was made clear in the area of petroleum.
“A concrete announcement was made of the desire to accelerate Brazilian investments in Venezuela in areas of exploration and to accelerate the installation of a Petrobras – Brazilian Petroleum S.A. – refinery, with Argentinean participation, in Northeastern Brazil, as well as to examine with haste the program of gas exploration by companies from the three countries,” he disclosed.
Besides this area, Garcia said that Chávez demonstrated interest in establishing financial or development instruments in the region.
According to Garcia, mechanisms will be studied, ranging from the creation of development banks in the region to the utilization of instruments that already exist, in order for processes of financing to become more agile.
Chávez shared Lula and Kirchner’s concern with social questions. His suggestion was to set up a social support fund that could help the countries that face the greatest difficulties in the region.
Agência Brasil