ALADI Foreign Ministers to Meet in Montevideo

Montevideo, August 20, 2014 (PL).- The Latin American Integration Association (ALADI/LAIA), comprising 13 countries, confirmed that the 17th Meeting of Foreign Ministers Council will be held here today.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro, Chairman of the Council, will open the meeting that will focus on the re-election of the current ALADI secretary general, argentine Carlos Alvarez, for another three-year term.

ALADI Foreign Ministers will also discuss the association's role and its operation for the development and consolidation of the regional integration process.

Alvarez is scheduled to make an account of his management and the president of the Committee of Representatives, Ambassador of Peru Aida Garcia Naranjo, will submit a report on the association's work from 2011 to 2014.

Among other issues, the meeting will deal the expansion of ALADI, promoting intra-regional trade and the participation of social, business and labor organizations in the integration process.

Initially, the foreign ministers' meeting was to take place in the framework of the 8th Summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in Montevideo, which in recent days has been postponed with no date set.

However, ALADI, which is made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, confirmed the conclusion of the foreign ministers council for Thursday.