Guyana formally handed over the Pro Tempore Chairmanship of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to Paraguay at the fifth meeting of the Council of Heads of State and Government of UNASUR in Asuncion, that country’s capital, on October 29.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release said that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds represented President Bharrat Jagdeo at this event.
The Pro Tempore Chairmanship of UNASUR rotates on a yearly basis in alphabetical order. Guyana assumed the Pro Tempore Chairmanship of UNASUR on November 26, 2010 at the IV Summit of the Council of Heads of State and Government held here in Georgetown.
According to the release, during the period of Guyana’s chairmanship, several advances were made. The Constitutive Treaty which was signed in May 2008 entered into force on March 11, 2011 and the organization attained international legal status with the registration of the Treaty at the United Nations on May 3.
Guyana in its capacity as Pro Tempore Chair has since made a formal application for Observer Status at the UN General Assembly. The eventual acceptance of UNASUR’s Observer status will place its future engagement with the UN on a firm and sustainable footing allowing for an enhanced profile of the integration movement in the international community, the release stated.
At the Georgetown Summit, the Heads of State and Government signed an Additional Protocol to the Constitutive Treaty on the commitment to democracy as a demonstration of their commitment to the promotion, defence, and protection of democratic order and the rule of law and its institutions.
Guyana, Bolivia and Peru have since ratified that Protocol, the release added.
On May 9, 2011 Maria Emma Mejia was formally installed as Secretary General of UNASUR by President Jagdeo in his capacity as Pro Tempore Chair of UNASUR. The Secretary General has since commenced operations at a temporary location provided by the Government of Ecuador in Quito.
