A man carries water through a busy alley in Kathmandu. Experts say water management is vital in South Asia due to erratic rain patterns. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

By Amantha Perera
KATHMANDU, May 16 2013 (IPS)

With a combined population of over 1.7 billion, which includes some of the world’s poorest but also a sizeable middle class with a growing spending capacity, South Asia is a policymaker’s nightmare.

The region’s urban population is set to double by 2030, with India alone adding 90 million city dwellers to its metropolises since 2000.

Over 75 percent of South Asia’s residents live in rural areas, with agriculture accounting for 60 percent of the labour force, according to recent statistics released by the World Bank.

Thus the impact of changing weather patterns on this region is staggering.

In Sri Lanka, an island of 20 million, close to two million have been affected by prolonged drought and intermittent yet deadly floods in the last year.

When Cyclone Nilam slammed Southern India last November it left half a million hectares of agricultural land in tatters, over 1,300 small tanks damaged and an estimated 7,000 kilometres of roadways in dire need of repairs – all from just four days of heavy ran.

South Asia has always been a climatic hot spot. According to Pramod Aggarwal, South Asia principal researcher and regional programme leader for agriculture and food security for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), over 70 percent of the region is prone to drought, 12 percent to floods and eight percent to cyclones.

“Climate stress has always been normal (here); climate change will make things worse,” he said.

The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that possible long-term impacts on the region include melting of glaciers in the Himalayas leading to intense flooding; coastal erosion as a result of sea-level rise; and enourmous stress on limited natural resources to support a growing urban population.

“South Asia is a very complex, complicated, vulnerable region,” Ganesh Shah, Nepal’s former minister of science and technology, told IPS, adding that as the effects of changing climate patterns increase, he and other policymakers will be forced to put political mistrust aside to achieve a common action plan.

W L Sumathipala, former head of Sri Lanka’s national Climate Change Unit and current advisor to the ministry of environment, told IPS the region is looking at a “very significant policy shift” towards better communication and sharing of technical know-how, to find common solutions to global warming.

Lessons in the agricultural sector

As warmer weather and ever more frequent natural disasters batter this region, populations have been forced to improvise and innovate in order to survive.

Aggarwal cited the example of Indian apple farmers discovering new growing areas on higher grounds in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, after rising temperatures drove them from their traditional farmlands.

He also pointed out that moderate increases in carbon dioxide concentrations can result in 20 to 30-percent higher yields of plants categorised as “C3” such as wheat, rice, potatoes or yams, all of which make up large portions of the South Asian diet.

Still, these “advantages” will be manifest only in the short term, until around 2030, after which point we can “expect a larger negative impact,” he said.

Meanwhile, rising temperatures could lead to yield losses of between seven and 10 percent for other, less resistant, crop varieties. Bleaker forecasts predict that many South Asian crops will experience 30 percent decreases in yield by the middle of this century.

To avoid this scenario, Aggarwal feels that research generated through such agencies as the New Delhi-based Indian Agricultural Research Institute – with its controlled environment facilities that recreate possible future climate scenarios and assess the real-time impact on crops – needs to be shared.

“We have to understand the opportunities and exploit them,” the scientist said, adding that the impact of changing climate patterns is likely to be more pronounced in tropical countries, which will also experience food shortages.

For years South Asia has been teetering on the brink of a food crisis: according to John Stein, sector director for sustainable development for the South Asia region of the World Bank, the region is already home to half the stunted and wasted children in the world. This will likely increase as a result of climate change.

Thus Aggarwal also stressed that “preventive action” is needed, such as identifying crops that can perform better under warmer temperatures and new locations for growing climate-resistant crops. This information must then be quickly disseminated, he said.

Water, water everywhere

Besides agriculture, another major issue for the region is water management, which will have to be urgently addressed in light of “changing monsoon patterns,” Sumathipala said. Already, 20 percent of the region’s residents do not have access to safe, clean water.

Water management becomes even more complex in the Indian Subcontinent where rivers flow across national boundaries, such as the Ganges, which originates in the Indian Himalayas and flows through Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

Sumathipala believes better sharing of monsoon-related forecasts, generated mostly in India, could be a first step towards greater climate security in the region. Just last month the Indian Meteorological Department announced that it was enhancing its pre-monsoon forecasting capacities.

South Asia is also under threat from short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as black carbon, which have a shorter life span than CO2 but are thought to be responsible for about a third of current global warming.

According to the World Bank, black carbon “also influences cloud formation and impacts regional circulation and rainfall patterns such as the monsoon in South Asia,” as well as outdoor air pollution.

“The four countries with the highest air pollution impact on human health,” wrote World Bank Senior Economist Maria Sarraf earlier this month, “are all in South Asia: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.”

South Asia currently accounts for around 10 percent of global emissions, of which India is responsible for between seven and eight percent.

Despite all this evidence on the need for stronger regional cooperation, experts like Shah know how difficult it is to get countries to come together. Platforms have already been put in place, especially through bodies like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), but very little has been achieved.

He puts the lack of action down to lack of pressure, stressing, “Climate activists need to be raising this (issue) at each SAARC summit,” the last of which concluded in Addu City, the southernmost atoll of the Maldives, in 2011.

Iran appears to be putting its immediate economic and strategic needs ahead of religious solidarity as it seeks to promote ties with neighbouring Pakistan.

Judging from a recent visit to Iran by Pakistani President Asef Ali Zardari, the two countries are more interested in improving their bilateral ties than in engaging in accusations over recent religious atrocities in Pakistan or resurrecting their support for rival factions in Afghanistan as international forces there depart.

Considering Iran’s strong pro-Shiite stance, one would have expected that the recent killing of over 100 Pakistani Shiites by a militant Salafi Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, would have been one of the main topics discussed during Zardari’s two-day visit to Iran, which ended Feb. 28.

Instead, the issue was overshadowed by the so-called “Peace Pipeline” project, which aims to send Iranian natural gas to energy-poor Pakistan.

In the meeting between Zardari and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the issue of religious unrest in Pakistan was discussed only briefly. Khamenei said he regretted the religious killings in Pakistan and called for bold actions to preserve “Pakistan’s national unity”.

The Iranian media blamed the killings on “Wahhabi terrorists, supported by the U.S. and Zionist regimes” rather than on the Pakistani government for failing to protect Shiites.

Iran’s lack of active support for Shiites in Pakistan could also be attributed to the fact that Pakistani Shiites are very diverse and some groups are not necessarily great fans of Iran’s model of theocratic rule.

The highlight of the Zardari-Khamenei meeting was a discussion of “Pakistan’s energy needs”. “In this region,” the ayatollah stated, “Only the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses safe energy resources and we are prepared to provide Pakistan with its energy needs.”

Zardari was quoted as saying that “the attempt by the international and regional players to prevent strengthening relations between Iran and Pakistan is a failed attempt as the nations have learned to act against Islam’s enemies.”

At present, Turkey is the only major importer of Iran’s large gas resources, purchasing about 30 million cubic metres per day. That is just a small fraction of the 600 million cubic metres a day that Iran, whose gas resources are second only to Russia, produces.

Most of the production is consumed domestically since the country lacks the means to export the gas as liquid or to stockpile it. Work has begun on another pipeline from Iran to Iraq and Syria that was approved by the Iraqi cabinet last month but it is questionable how quickly that project can be completed, especially given the deteriorating security conditions in Syria.

Considering the impact of sanctions on Iran, the leadership seeks stronger ties with South Asia for two reasons.

First, to demonstrate to the Iranian people that more countries are resisting U.S. pressure. Second, Iran hopes that joint projects that involve the interest of neighbouring countries, some of them U.S. allies, could deter military strikes against this infrastructure.

At the same time, Pakistan is facing a growing energy crisis which has caused severe electricity shortages in the country.

The “Peace” pipeline originates from the South Pars gas field in Iran’s southern city of Asalouyeh. It is to pass through Bandar Abbas and Iranshahr, in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, until it reaches Khuzdar, in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. From Khuzdar, the pipeline would continue through Sui to Multan with one extension going to Karachi.

The part of the project that is on the Iranian side is close to completion. Since Pakistan lacks the funds to start building the pipeline on its territory, Iran has offered to provide 500 million dollars, one third of the required amount, to start the project, beginning later this month.

The Barack Obama administration has warned Pakistan “to avoid any sanctionable activity” even while recognising Pakistan’s growing needs for more energy resources.

Pakistan’s media has supported the gas pipeline with Iran and questioned the benefit of the strategic alliance between the U.S. and Pakistan.

Other media accused the U.S. of a double standard in its foreign policy for “threatening Pakistan with sanctions for its ties with Iran, while Russia, China and India have very close economic and political ties with Iran.”

Both Pakistan and Iran face the challenge of ethnic and sectarian unrest. Unlike in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran has not played that card with Pakistan. This could relate to the fact that Pakistan could retaliate by actively supporting the Jundollah militant group in Sistan-Baluschistan province, one of Iran’s most sensitive and volatile regions.

Iran has criticised “the shortcomings” of Pakistani government forces for failing to prevent Baluch militants from attacking Iran, but the Tehran government has avoided confronting the Pakistan government over this issue.

The Iran-Pakistan relationship goes beyond the Peace Pipeline and it is more vital for Iran than for Pakistan. Pakistan has helped Iran develop its nuclear programme and Iran may be considering Pakistan a potential ally in the case of confrontation with the United States or Israel.

Iran’s policy towards Pakistan is an example of how economic priorities supersede ideology. However, it remains to be seen if projects such as the Peace Pipeline will be the start of strategic alliance between the two large Muslim countries.

Such an alliance would have major impact on the geopolitics of the region and could be critically important in the aftermath of international forces’ departure from Afghanistan.

Cuban diplomacy will be working full blast this year, promoting its own approach to integration in line with the needs and goals of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional body that excludes the United States, Cuba’s leading ideological opponent.

It is precisely this independence from Washington that most attracts Havana to CELAC, whose presidency will be occupied until 2014 by Cuban President Raúl Castro, together with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla.

By special resolution, this three-pronged presidency will be supplemented by Haitian President Michel Martelly, who also heads the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) this year.

CELAC is a diverse, plural and politically and ideologically tolerant bloc that gathers all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Thus the challenge put to member countries even before CELAC’s founding meeting is to tread carefully and find a path of agreement and consensus, with the overall aim of moving forward towards regional integration and growth, striving, in particular, to achieve a socially-just economic development.

“We undertake to work for peace, justice and development for Latin America and the Caribbean, and for cooperation, understanding and solidarity among all Latin American and Caribbean peoples,” Castro said on Monday, upon taking office as CELAC president, but acknowledged that regional unity must be built on the recognition of the region’s diversity.

The 33-country bloc closed its first formal summit on Monday in the Chilean capital of Santiago, and has scheduled its second summit for a year from now, in Cuba.

The Cuban government has been a strong supporter of the regional integration body since the idea for its creation first came up four years ago, at the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development held in Brazil.

That 2008 summit, the first regional meeting of its kind to be organised without engaging the United States and Canada, was followed two years later in 2010 by a similar gathering, this time in Mexico, where participant countries agreed to create CELAC. The bloc was finally founded the following year at a third meeting in Caracas.

Cuba made its preference for a U.S.-free integration known in June 2009 when the United States voted against the Caribbean island’s request to be reinstated as a member of the Organisation of American States, from which it was suspended by consensus in 1962 after embracing Marxism-Leninism.

The Castro administration also stepped up its active involvement in forums that represent the countries of the region, including Caribbean island nations.

“Strengthening, expanding and harmonising these bodies and groups is the path chosen by Cuba; (no longer holding on to) the impossible illusion of returning to an organisation that refuses to reform and has been condemned by history,” Castro said.

Cuba is a founding member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), of which Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela are also members. It also has close and active political and cooperation ties with CARICOM.

Cooperation with countries of the South is one of the strengths of Cuba’s foreign policy, a strategy which opens up significant opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean to implement major projects despite limited resources.

“We all have advantages and experiences that we can contribute,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said shortly before the Santiago summit.

As an example of this, Rodríguez mentioned the assistance provided by his country to Haiti, which focuses particularly on health aid.

Solidarity is, in fact, the principle chosen by Cuba to guide cooperation among the countries of the region, moving away from conditions imposed from outside that have no place in a “new Latin America”, Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno added.

While Cuba strengthens its regional environment, expectations that its relations with the United States will improve with the second administration of Democrat Barack Obama are low. Several commentators in the interactive Café 108 feature of the IPS Cuba website agreed that there is little chance that the U.S. will reconsider its relations with Cuba.

In the opinion of political scientist Esteban Morales, the United States is facing a difficult time, both on the domestic and on the international front, and in that context a change in attitude towards its socialist neighbour is highly unlikely. Morales, however, does not rule out the possibility of an indirect route, opened up as a result of the “changes (in U.S. relations) with Latin America and the Caribbean”.

“The last two years (of the Obama administration) may hold the greatest possibilities in this sense, depending on how well Obama does now,” Morales added.

Journalist Roberto Molina, for his part, does not expect to see any change “in the suspended state of relations between the two neighbouring nations, which have been enemies since the early 1960s.”

“Obama has too many pending issues to address – immigration, fiscal reform, a war and other potential conflicts, and a shaky economy – to be thinking of Cuba as a foreign policy priority,” Boris Caro, a Cuban journalist living in Canada, said.

In his last speech of 2012, Castro announced that he will put all his efforts and energy into his role as CELAC president, but he did not forget to remind “the U.S. government once again that Cuba is willing to sit down (with the U.S.) and find a solution to all their bilateral problems in a dialogue based on mutual respect and sovereign equality.”

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, at the closing ceremony of the CELAC summit. Credit: Marianela Jarroud/IPS

By Marianela Jarroud
SANTIAGO, Chile, Jan 29 2013 (IPS)

Openly conceding the differences in their ideological, economic and geopolitical views, leaders and high-level representatives of the 33 member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) committed themselves to integration at their first ever summit.

CELAC “definitely” empowers the region’s voice in the world, said the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, at the conclusion of the summit in Santiago on Monday.

“I am convinced that this new mechanism is a strong signal, first of all, that Latin America and the Caribbean are no longer what they used to be,” and have experienced “very significant changes”, she said.

Designed in 2010 in Mexico, and created in November 2011 in Caracas, CELAC represents about 600 million people and is the first regional bloc in five decades that leaves out the United States and Canada and includes Cuba.

Rightwing Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said it is “an inclusive (process), because it reaffirms convergence in the same common space, while it has projected itself strongly abroad.”

The host president’s words were along similar lines to those written by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, his complete opposite ideologically, in a letter that was read at the summit. Chávez is convalescing in Havana from his fourth cancer operation, which took place on Dec. 11.

The summit was marked by an air of expectancy about the contents of the letter, read out by Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro. CELAC “is the most important project of political, economic, cultural and social unity in our contemporary history,” Chávez said.

The presence from afar of the Venezuelan leader, one of the promotors of CELAC together with then presidents Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) of Mexico and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) of Brazil, silently stalked the corridors of the summit and breathed suspense even into the meeting that CELAC leaders held Jan. 25-26 with the European Union.

“We have every right to feel proud: the nation of republics, as Simón Bolívar the Liberator called it, has begun to take shape as a beautiful and happy reality,” he wrote.

Chávez condemned “the shameful imperial blockade of the revolutionary Cuba of Martí (the Cuban independence hero and writer)” and “the continued colonisation and now the progressive militarisation of the Malvinas (Falklands) Islands,” the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic that Argentina claims as its own.

He also called for support for Cuban President Raúl Castro, who took over the temporary presidency of CELAC.

Bárcena said, meanwhile, that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean “are in a better economic situation, are more resilient from the economic point of view, and also from the social point of view, although there are many pending debts.”

She said the region “is well aware of the gaps that need closing internally, and afterwards, if we are more connected, we will be able to relate to foreign countries with greater strength.”

Bárcena said the region has become conscious of the importance of promoting trade between countries.

She added, “If regionalism and integration are dynamised, (production) chains of greater value can be created in the region, and with better articulation, we can (enter into more advantageous) relationships with the Asia-Pacific countries, Europe, or the United States.”

The governments represented at the summit reached convergence on Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas/Falklands Islands, rejection of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, and the need to reduce the enormous inequalities in the region.

But they expressed divergence when it came to debate on foreign investments in the region and on historic geopolitical demands.

Castro said that “transnational corporations, primarily from North America, will not give up control of energy, water and strategic mineral resources that are becoming scarce,” while he stated that his taking over the CELAC presidency was “a recognition of our people’s selfless struggle for independence.”

For his part, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño called on the Organisation of American States (OAS) to “make reparations to Cuba”, which was suspended from the body in 1962.

When it was the turn of Bolivian President Evo Morales, he insisted on his country’s historic demand for a sovereign outlet to the Pacific Ocean, which it claims from Chile. Piñera replied, and an extended discussion took place between the two in the forum.

Morales also called on the “brothers” of the insurgent Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) to come to a peace agreement.

They must “understand that in these times, revolutions are not made by bullets but by voices, in democracy, without violence, with awareness and not by vote-buying,” said Morales, in words that earned him the thanks of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Bárcena said that the countries of the Americas marching towards unity in diversity is part of the new impetus that CELAC brings. The three realities, made up of the Caribbean and Mexico, Central America and South America, “can dialogue in a much broader and I would say much more pragmatic environment, each with its own model,” she said.

In her view, “there is more convergence than before, and I would say that the guiding principle here is the fight against inequality, because all the countries have realised that inequity conspires against technical progress, security, democracy and, above all, against productivity.”

In contrast, international analyst Raúl Söhr held a more cautious and less optimistic view. He said, “integration does not happen because mechanisms are created, but because there is political will, and when it comes to that there is still great divergence” within the region.

“The mechanisms keep proliferating, with the creation of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), CELAC, and the OAS, but at summits like this one, only generic declarations can be made in favour of what is good and against what is bad,” the Chilean expert said.

The second CELAC Summit will be held in 2014 in Havana, at a date yet to be announced.

The European Union’s serious economic and financial crisis stands in stark contrast to the relative stability and decade-long growth enjoyed by Latin America and the Caribbean and could put the two blocs on equal footing, giving the Southern region more leverage to further its demands and economic growth.

From the European Union to Latin America, protestors have taken to the streets against austerity policies. Credit: Nikos Pilos/IPS

The European Union (EU) is set to meet with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for a bi-regional summit in the Chilean capital of Santiago this Saturday, Jan. 26 and Sunday, Jan. 27.

The meeting will bring together heads of state or high government officials from the 60 countries that make up the two regional blocs, which have a combined population of 1.07 billion and strong cultural, historic and commercial ties.

But the process of forging these commercial ties has not been without its share of difficulties and setbacks, despite the fact that, as the founding documents of CELAC state, “the European Union is the top direct investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, its leading cooperator, and second largest trading partner“.

For Chilean political scientist Esteban Valenzuela, of the Alberto Hurtado University, the bi-regional summit represents an opportunity for Latin America.

“This is probably the ideal time to ask (the EU) to reach a more global understanding and make free trade and agricultural barriers a two-way street that will facilitate investments and allow Latin Americans to invest in their depressed markets,” Hurtado said in an interview with IPS.

It is an opportunity that Latin America must, however, seize “without arrogance”, as the current cycle of high prices of copper, gold, natural gas, oil and other raw materials in the region won’t last forever.

“There are indicators that reveal that China’s economic growth is ‘slowing down’ and that India is facing problems, and these indicators (are a warning sign that) call for enhanced dialogue in the region, (urging it) to seize the opportunity to improve public policies that produce high deficits,” he added.

It could be a turning point for the region’s relations with Europe, but it will only benefit Latin America and the Caribbean if the EU understands that it must treat its counterpart as an equal, Chilean senator Alejandro Navarro, of the left-wing Movimiento Amplio Social (Broad Social Movement), said.

To see this clearly, one need only look at Latin America’s controversial history with the United States, “where our region has traditionally been treated (by the U.S.) as its backyard, and relegated to a minor, supporting role,” he noted.

“Which is why I believe that if Europe understands that it must deal with Latin America on equal terms, it won’t be hard to overcome any problems that may arise in this integration process,” the legislator told IPS.

“With the United States, the possibilities for integration ran their course and bore no fruits. Europe now represents an opportunity that cannot be passed up,” Navarro concluded.

The summit, whose agenda focuses on building and strengthening “a strategic alliance for sustainable development”, is preceded by a meeting of the business sector organised by the head of the Chilean Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC), Lorenzo Constans, among others.

“At a time of economic and financial uncertainty for Europe, the EU has the possibility of joining forces with Latin America and the Caribbean in a great integration system (…), striving to overcome the challenges posed by development, growth and poverty eradication,” Constans wrote in the official website for the business meeting.

In contrast, Carlos Romero, a Venezuelan political scientist and expert on international affairs, is not so optimistic, as he believes that while relations between the two regions may have “worsened with the crisis that began in 2008, they have been declining for the past ten years.”

“The EU-CELAC summit in Santiago is merely a bureaucratic meeting, of no value (for the region) except for the Southern Cone of South America and, in particular, for the strong economic ties between Brazil and Germany. It’s more like a collective catharsis,” Romero, who is also a university professor, told IPS.

“The timing isn’t the most appropriate, not only because of the difficult situation in the euro zone, but because one of the priorities for Latin America is strengthening its ties with its natural market, which is the United States and Canada, and seeking new markets in the Asia-Pacific region, especially China but also India, Southeast Asia and Australia,” he said.

Brazilian economist Adhemar Mineiro, for his part, observed that it is difficult to imagine a more balanced relationship when “unfortunately the EU has opted for a strategy of further liberalisation and adjustment, which has deepened the crisis not only in Europe but around the world.”

In his view, the summit should be an opportunity for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to “harshly criticise this option taken by the European governments”.

It is also a time for the region “to support the struggle of social sectors in Europe that are combating the adjustment policy, which causes unemployment and makes workers foot the bill for the crisis, going as far as dismantling the social protection mechanisms of the so-called welfare state.

“The governments of Latin America should also criticise that option of the European governments, and withhold their markets (including their labour markets) as a solution to those problems,” said Mineiro, who is also an adviser to the Inter Trade Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (DIEESE).

CELAC was created in 2010 in the Mexican tourist district of Riviera Maya, in what the Brazilian Foreign Ministry calls “a historic decision” by the region’s heads of state to establish a new mechanism of political convergence and integration.

According to the Brazilian government, this mechanism will also foster a regional identity for addressing issues of integration and development.

There has been progress in talks with Europe in that sense, as well as some sectoral agreements, like the EU-CELAC Structured Dialogue on Migration, the EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs, and a Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that his country’s main proposal to the EU-CELAC forum at the Santiago summit would be a declaration calling for the signing of an international treaty within the U.N. system to regulate arms sales.

But as Mineiro pointed out, the EU wishes to emphasise talks on trade and, especially, direct investment.

The European bloc is negotiating separate agreements with Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, and has strategic alliance treaties with Brazil and Mexico, as well as trade agreements with Colombia and Peru, and economic partnerships with Caribbean countries.

*With additional reporting by Humberto Márquez in Caracas, Marianela Jarroud in Santiago and Constanza Vieira in Colombia.