President Bharrat Jagdeo will appoint and install Colombia’s former foreign minister Maria Emma Mejia as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations, (UNASUR) at a meeting set for May 9.
As Chairman of UNASUR, Jagdeo will perform the inauguration at State House, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said. “Mejia will serve as Secretary General for the first half of the two-year term, while Venezuela’s former Energy Minister Ali Rodriquez will hold the post the following year,” it said.
The Secretary General position had been left vacant since the death of former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner in October, 2010. Kirchner had been selected to a two-year term as secretary general of the regional body. Guyana assumed the chairmanship of the body in November 2010, which the president said was a demonstration of strengthening ties with Latin America.
UNASUR is a political and economic union that was formed on May 23, 2008 in Brazil aimed at creating a South American integrated space in the political, social, economic, environmental and infrastructural spheres. It comprises 12 South American Nations: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela and Guyana.
