Lula wants to restore Unasur, and defends Brazil’s cooperation with South American neighbors

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reiterated Thursday his call to reinstate the South American Union of Nations (Unasur) and defended cooperation so that his country, Latin America’s largest economy, can help its neighbors grow.

This was mentioned during his speech in the southern city of Foz do Iguaçú with his Paraguayan counterpart, Mario Abdo Benítez, at the official inauguration of economist Enio Verri as Brazilian director of the binational hydroelectric power plant Itaipu, created 50 years ago by a treaty between Brazil and Paraguay.

Lula held the treaty that created the hydroelectric plant as an example of South American integration and assured that Brazil is also responsible for the economic growth of its smaller neighbors in terms of size and industrial and technological development.

“It is impossible to imagine a rich country surrounded by poor countries. As the big brother of the countries of South America, Brazil has the responsibility that its neighbors grow together with us to live in a continent of peace and tranquility,” Lula said.

The president said that one of his “missions” in foreign relations is the “reorganization” of Unasur, a mechanism that was deactivated in the last decade and which, according to the Brazilian president, guarantees dialogue and stability among South American countries.

“I return willing to reorganize Unasur, to make all South American countries understand the need for peace and tranquility because only with peace and tranquility, and exercising democracy, we can guarantee that our continent stops being poor or developing”, he said in his speech.

And he remarked: “We have the right to grow and to distribute this growth to the population”.

Lula also urged the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), a bloc to which Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay belong, to remain united to have “more strength to negotiate”.

Lula appointed economist and former Workers’ Party deputy Verri as director of the Brazilian side of Itaipu Binacional with a mandate until 2027.

The hydroelectric power plant began operating in 1984 and is the second largest power generator of its kind in the world, after China’s Three Gorges.

Itaipu is located in the Paraná River region on the border between Paraguay and Brazil.

With information from Xinhua

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