Bank of South
Inaugurated in Argentina
The Presidents of
Brazil, Venezuela,
Paraguay, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Uruguay and
Argentina will meet here
on Sunday to sign the
foundational act of the
Bank of the South, which
will fund regional
projects, official
sources confirmed on
Saturday.
The ceremony to
inaugurate the Bank of
the South will be one of
the last official
activities of Argentine
President Nestor
Kirchner, who will hand
over power to his wife,
Cristina Fernandez, on
Monday.
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez confirmed
the inaugural ceremony,
when he ratified an
announcement made by his
Ecuadorian counterpart,
Rafael Correa.
"Caracas will be the
venue. We had planned to
sign it in Caracas one
of these days, but there
is not time due to
overlapped schedules,"
Chavez said recently in
Santiago de Chile at the
end of the Ibero-American
Summit.
The Bank of the South
will open with an
initial capital of seven
billion dollars, which
will come from the seven
member countries"
international reserves.
According to Chavez, one
of the promoters of the
project, the bank will
help Latin America to be
financially independent
from the International
Monetary Fund and the
World Bank.
In a medium term, the
Bank of the South can
become an option for
underdeveloped
countries, as it will
also assimilate part of
the hard-currency
reserves, which are kept
in the United States and
Europe.
The main functions of
the Bank will be:
financing development
projects in key economic
sectors to improve
competitiveness and
scientific and
technological
development, providing
technical assistance,
and granting loans and
guaranties.
It will also issue
bonds, promissory notes,
obligations and any
other kinds of
instruments, and will
place its partners"
bonds, attract financial
resources of all kinds
and forms, and provide
financial assistance in
case of natural
disasters.
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