Brazil’s Lula proposes South America currency to rival US dollar
- The president is hosting a regional summit as he seeks to to revive a bloc of 12 politically polarised countries
- Lula also gave a warm welcome to Venezuela’s Maduro, and criticised sanctions imposed on the nation by the US and others
Brazil’s president proposed the creation of a regional trade currency to rival the US dollar on Tuesday as he hosted a regional summit in a bid to revive a bloc of South America’s 12 politically polarised countries.
The Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, was launched in 2008 to boost cooperation, but became largely defunct about a decade later in disputes over leadership. Countries with right-leaning leaders at the time – including Brazil – saw the bloc as having a leftist bent and objected especially to the inclusion of Venezuela’s authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
Brazil’s new leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has proposed restarting the bloc now that the region has a greater number of leftist and centrist leaders. He called a South America Summit in Brasilia that has drawn all but one of the region’s presidents.
In his opening speech, Lula said the group should discuss creating a currency to challenge the hegemony of the US dollar, as well as a common energy market and integration of the region’s defence and security.
“As long as we’re not united, we won’t make South America a developed continent in all its potential,” Lula said.