Venezuela and Ecuador Advance Bilateral Integration and Cooperation
Mérida, October 8th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- In their sixth quarterly meeting on bilateral cooperation, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela signed accords to create binational fishing and mining companies, enhance joint efforts to prevent drug consumption and fight drug trafficking, and increase military cooperation.
Chavez said Ecuador and Venezuela are "called to open the pathways toward true unity between our peoples, between our governments, and true complementation between our political systems."
Correa called Wednesday's meeting "a step forward," and added "collective action and unity in the region are fundamental for the development of its peoples."
In addition, Venezuela agreed to donate $20 million worth of wheelchairs, crutches, and other special equipment to bolster Ecuador's new social program called the Manuela Espejo Solidarity Mission, which seeks to discover the social and economic conditions of disabled people in Ecuador and provide needed services to that population.
The Ecuadoran program is modeled on Venezuela's Jose Gregorio Hernandez Mission, which was founded in 2008 and named after a popular Venezuelan doctor known as "the people's doctor." Both missions receive assistance from Cuban community doctors.
To improve telecommunications in both countries, Venezuela's national telecommunications company CANTV and Ecuador's TELEXA signed preliminary documents for a strategic alliance.
Also, Ecuador incorporated its public telecommunications infrastructure into the new network of radio stations called Radio of the South, which was created during the Africa-South America Summit in the end of September with the purpose of promoting unity among peoples of the Global South.
Moreover, the Finance Ministries of both countries signed a memorandum of understanding about the creation of the Venezuela-Ecuador Development Fund (FEVDES), which will be used to finance development projects in the transportation, health, education, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure sectors.
The twelve-hour meeting in Caracas, which involved an array of government ministers from both countries, came amidst a strong backlash from the majority of South American countries against the recent expansion of the U.S. military presence in Colombia, which both Venezuela and Ecuador consider a potential threat to their sovereignty.
In this context, Correa and Chavez agreed to improve the exchange of information, knowledge, technology, and needed replacement parts between their countries' militaries. This follows Venezuela's donation of six fighter planes to Ecuador just over a week ago.
"We should prepare ourselves to reject the aggressions of the [United States] empire," Chavez said. "Only in unity will we achieve independence; we are still far from achieving it."
The meeting was also the latest step forward in the process of regional integration. This process has accelerated in recent years with the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which convoked the first ever South American Defense Council to diffuse regional tensions and promote transparency in military spending, as well as the eight-member Caribbean, Central, and South American trade bloc ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), which promotes "People's Trade Agreements" as an alternative to the U.S.-dominated free trade agreements.
Correa currently occupies UNASUR's rotating presidency, and Ecuador became a member of ALBA in July.
Also on the agenda in Wednesday's meeting was the Bank of the South, an initiative of the ALBA bloc to wrest control of the region's development from the U.S. and other foreign capital, and the creation of a new regional currency, a virtual compensation system called the Sucre.
Chavez and Correa have initiated dozens of bilateral accords since the two countries began holding quarterly meetings more than a year and a half ago. In their fifth meeting in May, the countries concretized plans to explore for oil off Ecuador's Pacific coast and proposed the creation of a Latin American Human Rights Commission.
In July 2008, Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and Ecuador's PetroEcuador signed a deal to build a $6.6 billion joint oil refinery with the capacity to produce 300,000 barrels per day along Ecuador's pacific coast. The following month, the two leaders launched joint oil extraction projects in Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Belt.
PDVSA has formed mixed enterprises, in which the company maintains 60% control, with companies from five continents to exploit the Orinoco, which is estimated to contain the world's largest reserve of oil, Venezuela's principal export.
