GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Prime minister Mark Phillips, on Saturday, called upon the governments of South American countries to consolidate their efforts to fight COVID-19 and build more resilient economies.
The prime minister was at the time representing president Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, at the virtual heads of state forum for the Progress and Integration of South America (PROSUR).
In his remarks, the prime minister said the meeting is occurring at a time when COVID-19 has caused severe disruption in social systems and economies across the world. He said South American nations have had to redirect much needed financial resources to support its local health sectors.
“This means that there must be sustained advocacy for greater access to financing from international financial Institutions for the building of more resilient economies. We must also continue to press for the recognition of the vaccines against this virus to be a global public good – vaccines that would be accessible to all our peoples.”
Prime minister Phillips hailed the meeting of the heads of states as an opportunity for South American leaders to work together towards mutually beneficial outcomes.
“We have in PROSUR, a mechanism that can provide us with the opportunity to consolidate our efforts to combat not only this problem, but other issues which pose a challenge to the development of our continent – in particular migration, crime and security and climate change.”
On March 22, 2019, during a meeting in Santiago, Chile, the Governments of Guyana, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru signed the Presidential Declaration on the Renewal and Strengthening of the Integration of South America (Santiago Declaration).
The declaration affirmed the will of the representative countries to “consolidate a regional space of coordination and cooperation, without exclusions, to move towards more effective integration… progress and development of the countries of South America.”