June 28, 2006
Venezuela: integration depends on Mercosur

(Inside Costa Rica) - "The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) success or failure will determine the fate of the regional integration process, said Foreign Minister Ali Rodríguez, who ratified the joining of the group by Venezuela on Jul 4.

In a meeting with local and foreign journalists in Caracas, Rodríguez considered that in the international scene, true integration is expressed as an alternative which is irreconcilable with the US-promoted neoliberal design.

In Rodríguez' opinion, an integration based on complementariness, cooperation, solidarity and respect of sovereignty is gaining ground vis a vis a free market integration which is unfair for underdeveloped or developing countries.

He said there are enough conditions of complementariness among countries of the South to carry on with what he described as a necessary, urgent course."