Four-party summit
backs Bolivian nationalization
BUENOS AIRES – A long, very good meeting was how
Argentine President Néstor Kirchner described four-party
summit held yesterday in the city of Puerto Iguazú,
where participants backed Bolivia’s nationalization
of hydrocarbon resources.
During a press conference, Kirchner read out a
communiqué in which the four presidents (Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela) voiced their support
for regional energy integration and for contributing
with joint investments to Bolivia’s development.
The meeting also took up the consolidation of
Mercosur in the regional aspect and the coordination
of positions for the upcoming Latin America and
Caribbean Summit with nations of the European Union,
to be held May 11 to 13 in Vienna, Austria.
For his part, Bolivian President Evo Morales said
the events surrounding his country’s nationalization
of hydrocarbons constitutes a historical moment.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in
his turn, said all speculations voiced and written
about the Bolivian nationalization were left behind
after the contents of this summit were announced
through the document read out by Kirchner.
He was referring to a rumor that had circulated
that Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobrás,
would suspend planned investments in Bolivia.
He emphasized that future prices of Bolivia’s gas
for the biggest consumers, Argentina and Brazil,
would be established in line with the needs of
Bolivia’s development and the interests of those
countries.
