Union of South American Nations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Political centres Quito[1]
Cochabamba[1]
Official languages
Demonym South American
Membership
Government Continental union
 -  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[2]
Population
 -  2008 estimate 387.948 million[3] 
 -  Density 21.9/km² (192nd)
56.7/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate
 -  Total $4.066 trillion[3] (4th)
 -  Per capita $9,736[3] (77th)
GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate
 -  Total $2.879 trillion[3] (5th)
 -  Per capita $7,421[3] (68th)
Currency
Time zone (UTC-2 to -5)
Internet TLD
Website
UNASUR

The Union of South American Nations (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties (help·info) - 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, but not as of yet ratified by the required ninth nation. [4] 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), will be located in Caracas, Venezuela.[5] The Union's former designation, the South American Community of Nations (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Statengemeenschap (help·info), Portuguese: Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações, and Spanish: Comunidad de Naciones Suramericanas), abbreviated as CSN, was dropped at the First South American Energy Summit on April 16, 2007.[6]

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 September–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 name of the community 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 related to its acronym (U.S.A. in comparison to the United States of America).