Chávez and Correa agree on the future

Caracas
Dec 20

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Rafael Correa, the president-elect of Ecuador, have spoken today in favor of advancing the process of regional integration so that it may go beyond the area of trade.

Both politicians expressed their coinciding opinions following the reception ceremony to welcome Correa at the Maiquetía International Airport, where he had arrived to carry out a two-day visit to Venezuela.

Correa, who is set to assume the presidency next January, indicated that now is the time to acknowledge the past and the common destiny of the region, as part of an agenda of integration that goes beyond merely the commercial sphere alone.

This must be a new kind of integration, of a logical complementary nature, overriding the absurd version imposed by the North that forces us to compete with each other, he highlighted.

The Ecuadorian president-elect emphasized the complementary possibilities in the fields of energy and finance, given the region’s capacity for self-financing.

Correa, who reiterated the call for Venezuela to rejoin the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), indicated that the future should see the fusion of this organization with the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).

This, he said, will be a priority during his mandate.