"By improving infrastructure, we enhance the quality of life, create more jobs, reduce poverty and, as part of that process, our people can improve their access to services," stated Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie this morning at the Palacio San Martín, during the opening of the 7th Ordinary Meeting of Ministers of UNASUR's South American Council of Infrastructure and Planning (COSIPLAN), alongside the Minister of the Interior, Rogelio Frigerio, and the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Dietrich.
Minister Faurie highlighted that "wealth is unevenly distributed in our region, so anything that can be done in terms of infrastructure is especially important because its development offers us an opportunity to create equality."
Minister Frigerio, in turn, underscored the need to generate "regional competitiveness in order to apply the efforts and work of Latin American people to international markets." In that regard, he noted that "at COSIPLAN we work on concrete issues in order to achieve regional development and integration."
In the presence of the representatives of UNASUR countries, Foreign Minister Faurie also stated that "connectivity and physical integration" are essential in that process, and that "the region must respond to this challenge." He also mentioned that "participating in value chains depends on our ability to create better routes and roads, as well as to enhance our energy capacity."
"If we wish to place our products in Asian markets, we must ensure that we have adequate physical and energy interconnectivity," the Foreign Minister exemplified.
Minister Faurie also stated that "Argentina will voice the region's concerns over interconnectivity and infrastructure at the G-20 forum" and will put forward the issue of funding for major works.
In addition, Minister Dietrich referred to the transport infrastructure plan that the Argentine government has set for 2019, one of whose goals is to "double the number of highways in the national network, with a special focus on the roads that connect Argentina with its neighbouring countries, particularly Chile."
COSIPLAN, established in January 2009, is a political debate forum which seeks to implement the integration of the regional infrastructure of member states of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Its specific goals are to build infrastructure, transport and telecommunications networks, in accordance with sustainable social and economic development criteria and preserving balanced ecosystems.
Press release No. 565/17
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