Lima, August 20, 2007.- Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, during his speech today at the opening ceremony of the Second Forum on the Latin American Pacific Basin Initiative, hailed the Andean Community’s initiative of holding the International Meeting on Climate Change, Clima Latino, this coming October and expressed his interest in participating actively in that event. 

He was of the opinion that not only is this the right time for reflection about this serious threat to the world as a whole, and particularly the Amazon, where a large portion of the earth’s natural wealth is concentrated, but that such reflection is essential.  Developed countries must reduce their carbon emissions; otherwise, the Amazon will be fated to disappear, he stated emphatically.   

In a visit to the Andean Community General Secretariat prior to the Forum, where he was received in a formal session by the Secretary General, Freddy Ehlers, accompanied by directors and officials of that institution, the Foreign Minister gave a message of Brazilian solidarity with the victims of the Peruvian earthquake of August 15. 

During his speech, Amorim highlighted the importance of a joint plan for all South America, consisting of “the sum, a measure from or a mix of the individual plans of each country, of each nation.”  "The name it is given does not matter; what is important is the intention to create an integration process that truly unites us, while, at the same time, respecting our diversity,” the Foreign Minister pointed out. 

He recalled his presence in the CAN General Secretariat over two and a half years earlier, at a Ministerial meeting that was decisive in reaching an agreement between the CAN and MERCOSUR, which has now begun to bear fruit.  "Although Brazil continues to show a trade surplus with most of the Andean countries, except for Bolivia, that trade is becoming more intense and better balanced,” he emphasized.   

The Brazilian Foreign Minister recognized that “while greater emphasis on education and culture is needed” in the region’s integration effort, it is also essential “not to lose sight of the creation of a common economic space.”  "Trade in material goods and services must also be accentuated, because people become interrelated in that way --not exclusively, of course, but primarily,” he stressed. 

The CAN Secretary General, Freddy Ehlers, for his part, pointed up the Brazilian Foreign Minister’s integrationist vocation.  "He is a man who believes in the union of South Americans and Latin Americans and who worked continuously with President Lula to bring together those of us who, despite coexisting, have been looking in opposite directions,” he stated.