Caribbean and Latin American foreign affairs ministers met in Venezuela last week in anticipation of the presidential summit scheduled for July, when a new regional integration organization is set to be born, according to delegates.
Delegates said on April 26 that the new grouping, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC), will be officially launched when leaders meet in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, on Jul. 5, on the 200th independence anniversary of Venezuela.
According to an official statement, leaders will “agree on the statutes and founding charter of the new group, which has the purpose of becoming an Organization of American States, OAS, without the United States and Canada.”
“The new entity will bring together all Latin American and Caribbean countries with the purpose of promoting political dialogue and cooperation for development”, said the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement.
He said CELAC will also debate the “democratic clause” and take notice on the implementation of the Montego Bay Action Plan, which was ratified at the Cancun summit last February.
CELAC will include the 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The organization is defined by Argentine diplomacy as an initiative to address and coordinate the different integration processes and regional development policies,” said the statement, which added that the different organizations participating in CELAC include Mercosur, Aladi, Sela, CARICOM and Sica.
