Union of South American Nations

Union of South American Nations Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties (Dutch) União de Nações Sul-Americanas (Portuguese) Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (Spanish)
Member states of the Union of South American Nations.
Proposed administrative centres		Quito[1] (Secretariat Headquarters) Cochabamba[1] (Parliament seat)
Largest city		São Paulo
Official languages		4 Dutch English Portuguese Spanish
Ethnic groups (2007)		7 White (46%) Mulatto (21%) Mestizo (21%) Amerindian (6%) Black (4%) Mixed (<1%) Other (2%)
Demonym		South American
Membership		12 members  Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Guyana  Paraguay  Peru  Suriname  Uruguay  Venezuela 2 observers  Mexico  Panama
Government		Continental union
-	Secretary General	Néstor Kirchner[2]
-	President Pro-tempore	Rafael Correa
Formation
-	Cusco Declaration	8 December 2004
-	Constitutive Treaty	23 May 2008
Area
-	Total	17,731,457 km2  6,846,154 sq mi
-	Water (%)	8.91[3]
Population
-	2008 estimate	387.948 million[4]
-	Density	21.9/km2 (192nd) 56.7/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2008 estimate
-	Total	$4.066 trillion[4] (4th)
-	Per capita	$9,736[4] (77th)
GDP (nominal)		2008 estimate
-	Total	$2.879 trillion[4] (5th)
-	Per capita	$7,421[4] (68th)
Currency		12 Argentine peso Bolivian boliviano Brazilian real Chilean peso Colombian peso Guyanese dollar Paraguayan guaraní Peruvian nuevo sol Surinamese dollar United States dollar Uruguayan peso Venezuelan bolívar
Time zone		(UTC-2 to -5)
Internet TLD		12 .ar .bo .br .cl .co .ec .gy .py .pe .sr .uy .ve
Website UNASUR (Spanish)

The Union of South American Nations (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties - UZAN, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL, Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas - UNASUR) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modeled on the European Union.

The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil,^[5] but not as yet ratified by the required ninth nation. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South (Dutch: Bank van het Zuiden, Portuguese: Banco do Sul, Spanish: Banco del Sur), are located in Caracas, Venezuela.^[6]

On 4 May 2010, at an extraordinary heads of state summit held in Campana, 75 km (47 mi) north of Buenos Aires, former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner was unanimously elected the first Secretary-General of UNASUR for a two-year term, providing Unasur with a defined political leadership on the global stage. This new office was conceived as a first step towards the establishment of a permanent bureaucratic body for the supranational union, eventually superseding Mercosur and CAN political bodies. Although the Secretariat headquarters were originally planned to be located at Quito, Ecuador, it was reported that it will probably start operating at Buenos Aires, Argentina.^[2][7]

Overview

At the Third South American Summit on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from 12 South American nations signed the Cusco Declaration, a two-page statement of intent announcing the foundation of the South American Community. Panama and Mexico attended the signing ceremony as observers.

The group announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.

The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in Brasília on 29–30 September 2005. An important operating condition of UNASUR is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase bureaucracy, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs.

Name change

On 28 December 2005, Chilean former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the Union's former designation, the South American Community of Nations (Dutch:Zuid-Amerikaanse Statengemeenschap, Portuguese: Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações, and Spanish: Comunidad de Naciones Suramericanas), abbreviated as CSN, be changed to South American Union (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Unie, Portuguese: União Sul-Americana, Spanish: Unión Sudamericana); nevertheless, many members stated to him that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion since its acronym of U.S.A. would be easily confused for the United States of America.

The name was finally changed on April 16, 2007 to "Union of South American Nations" (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas, Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas), abbreviated "UNASUR" in Spanish and "UNASUL" in Portuguese. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the First South American Energy Summit,^[8] held at Isla Margarita, Venezuela.

Structure

Néstor Kirchner, current Secretary-general of Unasur.

Extraordinary Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Union of South American Nations, held in Brasília.

At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:

• A permanent Secretariat is to be established in Quito, Ecuador. The Secretary General, with a two-year mandate, is to be elected on a consensual basis among the Heads of State of the member states. Former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner was designated the first Secretary General on 4 May 2010.^[2]
• The presidents of each member nation will have an annual meeting, which will be the superior political mandate. The first meeting was in Brasília (Brazil) on 29–30 September 2005. The second meeting was in Cochabamba (Bolivia) on 8–9 December 2006. The third meeting was held in Brasília on 23 May 2008.

• The temporary Presidency^[9] is held for a year and rotates among the member countries between each UNASUR meeting. According to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue^[10] (Dutch: Besluiten Bereikt in de Politieke Dialoog, Portuguese: Decisões Tomadas no Diálogo Político, Spanish: Decisiones Alcanzadas en el Diálogo Político), which was signed during the I South American Energy Summit.

• The ministers of foreign affairs of each country will meet once every six months. They will formulate concrete proposals of action and of executive decision. The President of the Mercosur's permanent representatives committee and the director of the Mercosur's department, the Andean Community's general secretary, ALADI's general secretary and the permanent secretaries of any institution for regional cooperation and integration, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization among others, will also be present at these meetings.
• Sectorial Ministers' meeting will be called upon by the presidents. The meetings will be developed according to Mercosur's and CAN's mechanisms.
• On 9 December 2005, a special commission was established in charge of advancing the process of South American Integration (Dutch: Commissie ter Stimulering van het Proces van de Zuid-Amerikaanse Integratie, Portuguese: Comissão Estratégica de Reflexão sobre o Processo de Integração Sul-americana, Spanish: La Comisión Estratégica de Reflexión a cargo de formular propuestas con miras a impulsar el proceso de integración sudamericano en todos sus aspectos). It consists of 12 members, whose function is to elaborate proposals that will help the process of integration between the South American nations.
• An Executive Commission, which was created by the II CSN meeting, was transformed in the Political Commission or Delegates Council, according to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue.^[10]

Current work in progress

Presidents and other members of UNASUR at the First Brasília Summit on September 29, 2005.

Presidents of UNASUR member states at the Second Brasília Summit on May 23, 2008.

Single market

One of the initiatives of UNASUR is the creation of a single market, beginning with the elimination of tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014, and for sensitive products by 2019. The process is to be developed upon the progressive convergence of the procedures of pre-existing Mercosur and CAN subregional economic blocks.

Economic development

Presidents of the seven founding countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay) officially launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The heads of all the founding countries were at the ceremony, with the exception of President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay. The capital will be US$7b, with Venezuela responsible for US$3b and Brazil US$2b. The headquarters will be located in Caracas with offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz.^[11][12]

The Bank of the South will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states.

The founding chart affirms that the Bank will promote projects in "stable and equal" manner and priorities will be pointed to reinforce South American integration, to reduce asymmetries, and to promote egalitarian distribution of investments.

The Brazilian Minister, Guido Mantega, stated that the bank is not similar to the International Monetary Fund; it will be a credit institution similar to the World Bank.

The South American Defence Council (CDS ^[13] ) was proposed by Venezuela and Brazil to serve as a mechanism for regional security, promoting military co-operation and regional defence. From the beginning Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the countries that took the leadership of the project, made clear that they did not intended a NATO-like alliance, but a cooperative security arrangement, enhancing multilateral military cooperation, promoting confidence and security building measures and fostering defense industry exchange. Colombia initially refused to sign up to the defence council due to the strong military ties it has with the United States through the Plan Colombia. However after reviewing the proposal they decided to join on July 20, 2008.^[14][15][16] Shortly following the signing by Colombia's President, President of Chile Michelle Bachelet appointed a working group to investigate and draft a plan for the new council. Finally, on March 10, 2009, the 12 nation members held, in Chile, the first meeting of the newly formed council.^[17]

In mid-2010 UNASUR played a key role in mediating the 2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis.

Infrastructure cooperation

• There is an Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America (IIRSA) underway, which has received the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation.
• UNASUR started plans of integration through infrastructure cooperation with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway, a road that intends to more firmly link the Pacific Coast countries, especially Chile and Peru with Brazil and Argentina by extending highways through the continent, allowing better connections to ports from Bolivia and the inner parts of Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. The first corridor, between Peru and Brazil, began construction in September 2005, financed 60% by Brazil and 40% by Peru, is expected to be ready by the end of 2009.
• The South American Energy Ring (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Energiekring, Portuguese: Anel Energético Sul-Americano, Spanish: Anillo Energético Sudamericano) is intended to interconnect Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay with natural gas from several sources, such as the Camisea Gas Project in Peru and Tarija Gas Deposits in Bolivia. Though this proposal has been signed and ratified, economic and political difficulties in Argentina and Bolivia have delayed this initiative, and to date, this agreement remains more like a protocol than an actual project, since Chile and Brazil are already building LNG terminals to import gas from overseas suppliers.

Free movement of people

Visits by South American citizens to any South American country of up to 90 days require only the presentation of an identity card issued by the respective authority of the travellers' country of origin. On 24 November 2006 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela waived visa requirements for tourism travel between nationals of said countries.^[18]

Immigration

Brazil has introduced a new temporary residency program for citizens of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Under the new program, eligible citizens of these countries will benefit from a simplified application process, which can be completed from within Brazil. If successful, they will receive a two-year residency status, after which they will be eligible for permanent residency.

Eligible citizens of the Mercosur member countries (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and two Mercosur "associated countries" (Chile and Bolivia) can now apply for a special two-year temporary residency program in Brazil using a simplified application process. The new program was introduced by a government decree published on October 8, 2009, but administrative delays prevented the new program from being implemented until now.

Under the new program, natural-born citizens of these countries, or individuals who have held citizenship in these countries for at least five years, plus their legal dependents (regardless of nationality), may obtain temporary residency status in Brazil that will remain valid for two years. The temporary residency program is not linked to a specific employer, and from an immigration perspective, these residents are eligible to work for any employer in Brazil. After the first two years, the candidate is eligible for permanent residency.

Nationals of these five countries may apply for this residency program abroad at a Brazilian consular post or from within Brazil to the Brazilian Federal Police. Applicants must demonstrate their identity, citizenship, and good character by presenting documents requested by immigration authorities, such as: passports, identity cards, or nationality certificates issued by their country of origin's consular post; birth certificates; marriage certificates (if applicable); declarations of criminal clearance or criminal clearance certificates; and registration fees.^[19]

According to Brazilian Labour Department, between 2005 and July, 2009: 3,083 Argentines, 1,303 Venezuelans, 1,168 Chileans, 476 Bolivians, 314 Uruguayans, 159 Paraguayans entered Brazil to work.^[20]

Participating nation states

Unasur member states

• Members of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN)¹:
  •  Bolivia³
  •  Colombia
  •  Ecuador³
  •  Peru³

• Members of Mercosur²:
  •  Argentina³
  •  Brazil
  •  Paraguay
  •  Uruguay
  •  Venezuela³

• Member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  •  Chile¹ ²

• Members of CARICOM:
  •  Guyana³
  •  Suriname

¹ These countries are also considered to be associate members of Mercosur
² These countries are also considered to be associate members of the Andean Community.
³ Has ratified the Constitutive Treaty.^[21][22]

Participating non-South American territories

The following territories situated outside South America are part of member states and therefore participate:

• Easter Island (Rapa Nui), a Chilean territory situated in Oceania
• San Andrés y Providencia, a Colombian territory situated in Central America
• Isla Aves, a Venezuelan territory situated in the Antilles.
• Antarctic territorial claims

Non-participating territories

The following parts of South America are territories of non-South American states and therefore do not participate:

• French Guiana, which is an overseas department of France and is therefore part of the European Union
• The Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands¹, which are overseas territories of the United Kingdom^[23] and overseas countries and territories of EU,^[24] though claimed by Argentina.

¹ South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are commonly associated with Antarctica.

See also

• Continental union
• Free Trade Area of the Americas
• Latin American integration
• Latin American Integration Association
• Latin American Parliament
• North American Union
• Rio Group

References

External links

• Unasur official website (Spanish)
• Flag of the Union of South American Nations:
• South American Defense Council
• Andean Community: South American Community of Nations
• Brazil Ministry of Foreign Relations: South American Community of Nations
• Tinku: UNASUR/Mercosur
• Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America
• Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean
• Latin-American Integration Association
• Do the Mercosur Countries Form an Optimum Currency Area?
• Bank Information Center: Bank of the South
• Southern Affairs: Academic Research on South American Regional Integration
• Towards Unity: Union of South American Nations

Union of South American Nations Members Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Uruguay · Venezuela Summits South American Energy Summit · 2004 South American Summit · 2010 South American Summit Topics Cusco Declaration · Constitutive Treaty · President Pro Tempore · Secretary General · Bank of the South · South American Parliament · Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America · Mercosur · Andean Community