Brasilia, CMC: Suriname urges Latin American leaders to meet here to put aside their ideological differences and work towards revitalizing the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) that had been dormant for several years.
“Suriname believes that to start as new, we need to put aside ideological differences and focus on alliances based on our shared commitments and shared values to achieve sustainable development while fostering the resilience of our societies,” Santokhi told the leaders on Tuesday.
Both Santokhi and his Guyana counterpart, Irfaan Ali, have been invited to the summit by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva as he seeks to revive the organization.
Santokhi told the summit that the UNASUR countries should “acknowledge South America as our place, not only geographically, but with our own identity and shared destiny.”
He said it should be maintained as a region of peace and cooperation where hemispheric and South–South collaboration is paramount to advance sustainable development. Santokhi said regional integration and coordination should be offered as necessary tools to assist the countries in contributing to their sustainable development goals to achieve that certainty and security.
Santokhi also told the summit that was attended by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is visiting Brazil for the first time since he was banned by former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in 2019, that the world faces numerous challenges, such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity as well as social and income inequality.
He said that the debt crisis, inadequate funding for development, a global financial architecture in need of review, and the Russian war in Ukraine made it more critical for UNASUR to be revived.
“The world needs a new paradigm for international relations; our global institutional framework must be reframed and possibly repositioned in the global scheme of things. “UNASUR, as an inter-governmental mechanism, cannot ignore these important changes in the world; it must, in its strategic visioning, take those on board and address them with concrete and measurable plans for a better future in South America,” Santokhi added.
He said more than political will requires active leadership, commitment, ownership, and dedication.
“It requires commitments in principle to assist the other in problems, but also a commitment to solving problems through peaceful means, dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiations.”
Santolki said that while UNASUR was a consensus mechanism dedicated to integration and long-term economic and social development, the leaders failed this mechanism due to insufficient institution-building, ideological shifts, and lack of consensus.
“Let us learn from the past. A renewed UNASUR will be a collective task, requiring significant institutional and normative changes. We must ensure that UNASUR is more sustainable, effective, resilient, and capable of withstanding political and ideological shifts to guarantee the continuity of integration in the long term.
“This is a collective responsibility in the interest of all of us. We need to act now, to reform and rebuild,” Santokhi said, noting that the collective strength of the countries can elevate South America.
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