15:46 | Lima, Sep. 27 (ANDINA).
The Third ASPA Summit is an opportunity for the Arab and South American countries to work together to shape the new global world, said Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafael Roncaglioglo.
"This way we will build a relationship of strong dialogue, trade, investment, cooperation and culture between our peoples," he said in an article published by Dubai-based Gulf News.
Minister Roncagliolo said the event to take place in Peru next week will mark a new level of proximity between the two regions.
"The III ASPA Summit is an opportunity for the Arab and South American nations to show to the world a common ambition: to look beyond the current domestic challenges and to work together to shape the new global world, building a relationship of strong dialogue, trade, investment, cooperation and culture between our peoples," he stated.
Roncagliolo noted that the Summit will also yield common action on issues of immediate concern: exchange of best practices on governance; support for the stabilization of conflict situations; economic coordination to face the current global crisis; technical cooperation on energy and water management; among others.
"The outcome document, the Declaration of Lima, will outline our converging values: the search for peace, prosperity and social justice; the respect for international law and multilateralism," he added. "Also, the promotion of disarmament and non-proliferation; the need for an equitable, open and stable global market; and the imperative of sustainable development."
In a moment of economic uncertainty in other parts of the world, he said these regions bring together an enormous potential - yet greatly unexplored - for economic exchange and cooperation.
"In South America, the combination of a stable and expansionary macroeconomic environment, along with an abundance of natural resources, has created an attractive setting for international investors.
"At the same time, our countries still confront the need to transform their high growth rates of recent years into sustainable development and social inclusion."
For its part, he added, the Arab region traverses a historic period of social and political transformation, along with an evolution and diversification of its economic structures.
"The events of the last year and a half have propelled an arduous process of institutional re-building in several Arab nations while, of course, the international community awaits impatiently a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict," he continued.
Roncagliolo went on to highlight the ASPA CEO Summit which will gather in Lima leading business players of both regions for networking opportunities to facilitate fresh trade and investment deals.
He concluded by stressing that Peru, the host country and the current President of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), has fixed its goal for the Summit very clearly: to place in the international scene the new, singular voice of two regions longtime detached but now ready to converge.
(END) FPQ/GCO/LOG/EEP
Published: 9/27/2012