Declaration on Infrastructure Integration
First Meeting of Heads of State of the South American Community of Nations
Brasilia, September 30

In accordance with the Cuzco Presidential Declaration of 8 December 2004, and interpreting the aspirations of their peoples for the construction of an integrated South American space, the Presidents of the South American Community of Nations hereby decide to:

1. Accelerate the implementation of priority projects to integrate South America’s infrastructure, transportation, and communications.

2. Promote funding alternatives that take into account the financial realities of the South American countries, preserve the regulatory capacity and the decision-making independence of the States and promote the necessary investments for implementing the priority projects for the integration of infrastructure of transport, energy, and communications in South America identified by the countries and contained in the “IIRSA Portfolio”.

3. The Pro Tempore Secretariat will request that the regional financial bodies advance, in conjunction with national development banks and institutions, the Sectoral Process efforts to identify innovative mechanisms and find solutions to enable funding the IIRSA Strategic Projects Portfolio.

4. Convene a ministerial meeting in the field of transportation, public works and planning to identify, based on existing bilateral, regional and sub-regional experiences, the restrictions affecting projects in these areas and propose a program of action containing concrete measures to accelerate the implementation of priority projects related to physical integration.

5. Establish a technical work group with the participation of government agencies responsible for formulating the policies, rules and regulations governing communications and Internet services, with a view to examining the possibility of stimulating the development of an infrastructure network, which is an indispensable feature of a regional information society, that includes Internet exchange points, regional networks and primary servers, while taking into account the specific situation and needs of the region.

6. Reaffirm the importance of energy integration in South America. Approve of the outcomes of the I Meeting of Ministers of Energy of the South American Community of Nations held in Caracas on 26 September 2005, at which the parties decided to continue adopting concrete steps within the context of the Petroamerica initiative, taking into account the principles contained in their Declaration.

Reiterate the invitation to all South American countries to consider taking part in a review process of a regional energy complementation agreement as proposed by Uruguay at the Meeting of Ministers of Energy of Mercosur, Chile, Peru and Bolivia held in Montevideo on 22 August 2005.

Urge, moreover, the Ministers of the countries involved in the Southern Gas Pipeline initiative to move forward, in the shortest time possible, with the development of this project, by fulfilling the institutional, legal, technical and economic aspects capable of ensuring its timely implementation.