Chile: President Lagos questions IMF policies

[Say_What]

<clips>

Chilean president Ricardo Lagos, who this week will be visiting Argentina, questioned the current policies of the IMF and World Bank, and suggested Latinamerican countries coordinate foreign policy, following the recent experience of Chile and Mexico during the Iraq crisis.

Lagos questioned IMF
“The time has come to ask ourselves is the IMF, the multilateral institutions that rule us are the most adequate for today’s world”, said President Lagos in a long interview in Santiago with the Argentine press in anticipation of his trip next Thursday to Buenos Aires.

The Chilean president recalled that the IMF and the World Bank are institutions that were created in the forties of last century, and “it would be important that the IMF understands that it’s not possible to have a major international financial crisis every year”.

“Be it, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Argentina or Mexico….each of these crisis questions the whole international financial system”, underlined Mr. Lagos who was particularly critical of the IMF policy of dealing economic reforms and financial assistance with governments individually, “when the crisis that weaken us are international”.

Mr. Lagos pointed out as most positive for Latinamerica the recent policy coordination experience of Chile and Mexico, who as non permanent members of the United Nations Security Council had to endure the coalition’s pressure and even so refused to support military intervention in Iraq.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2529

[Frances]

1. Logos makes a logical case

If the Latin American countries could present a united front they would be much stronger.

Once again, Bush proves that he is a uniter, not a divider, because the example Logos uses is that of Chile and Mexico uniting against the U.S. in the war on Iraq.

[Judi Lynn]

2. They deserve a chance to survive

and they could do it without our school ground bullying, and our outright theft of their resources.

[AP]

3. With Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela and Cuba on relatively the

same page these days (and Argentina too), it makes it easier for one of them to make a stand like this. It must make Wall St and the RNC livid to hear stuff like this.

[Say_What]

4. Speaking of Brazil...

<clips>

Brazil and Peru Seek Trade, Integration in Lima

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Seeking to unlock trade routes across the vast Amazon jungle and foster South American integration, the presidents of Peru and Brazil meet Monday in Lima to sign deals they say will boost business and development.

The leader of Latin America's biggest economy, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, flew to Lima late Sunday for a state visit designed to pave the way for Peru's entry into the $890 billion Mercosur trade bloc formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

"By signing the deals between Peru and Brazil and Peru and Mercosur, and by leading the Andean Community toward Mercosur, we will be sowing the seed of a South American community of nations," Peru's President Alejandro Toledo told a ceremony at government palace Sunday night, after awarding his counterpart Peru's top honor.

The two presidents inaugurate a business forum Monday morning before private talks. They are expected to sign accords to open up key trade routes linking Brazil to Pacific ports in Peru, and seal a free-trade deal between Peru and Mercosur, which counts Chile and Bolivia as associate members.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3329228