Marco Aurelio Garcia: “Integration projects assume countries know that it is not enough for one or two of them to win. It has to be a joint process where everyone wins”

Brazil's Special Advisor for International Affairs, Marco Aurelio Garcia, addressed the challenges facing the region in terms of integration, and considered that any progress in pursuit of that goal should be "a joint process" that benefits all countries; otherwise, it risks not lasting over time.  

"Integration projects assume countries know that is not enough for one or two of them to win. It has to be a joint process where everyone wins," the Brazilian official said during a new edition of the series "Conversando con CAF," with Enrique Garcia, executive president of CAF - Development Bank of Latin America. "If you place a regional bet and you just want to win it, that bet will soon go down, it will be short-lived," he added.

In recent decades, whether for economic interests, geographical proximity, or ideological affinity, several blocks of integration, such as Unasur, Celac, ALBA, or the Pacific Alliance, were created in the region. Marco Aurelio Garcia, who advises Brazil's Presidency since 2003, when president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, was a key articulator in these processes, which he knows thoroughly.

He and Enrique Garcia agreed on the importance in today's globalized world of having a unitary identity as a block, which the Brazilian adviser exemplified with the creation of Unasur.

"When we proposed the project, we worked on the fundamental idea that South America had an extraordinary potential for insertion into a world that was becoming multipolar. We made progress while being convinced that we could be a pole because we had, first of all, the world's largest reserves of energy, and second of all, an extremely important agriculture sector, benefiting from technology and investment," he said.

Meanwhile, CAF's chief executive talked about the decisive role played by Brazil in this process. "If Brazil were not committed with an integration process, integration would simply be impossible to achieve," he said.

In Enrique Garcia's opinion, "regional integration becomes indispensable" to "participate in today's global supply chains with innovation, technology, and the enhancement of industrial areas and services," adding that, to achieve this integration, "it is key to articulate the issues, as we have seen in CAF with regards to infrastructure."

Enrique Garcia explained that, in the past 15 years, CAF has approved more than 65 projects for South American integration, including road construction, pipelines and telecommunications.

Marco Aurelio Garcia also stressed that, to be inserted in today's global scenario, the region needs to deepen its industrial diversification process, leaving behind the raw material agro-export model without any added value.

"Our countries cannot give up on industrial vocation. However, to promote a stronger industrial sector, we need to ensure that our industry can actually be competitive," said the Brazilian official. "That would mean a great future for the region," he added.

To watch the dialogue between Marco Aurelio Garcia and Enrique Garcia, visit the website www.conversandoconcaf.com and the YouTube channel"Conversando con CAF"