Arce affirmed that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) constitutes the mechanism that should call for reflection on the urgent need to achieve greater integration between peoples.
“Bolivia highlights the importance of having relevant projects for the region such as the Bi-Oceanic Integration Rail Corridor project that unites Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, as an initiative of interest for the strengthening of physical integration and socio-economic development and the articulation of the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean,” he said.
Official sources point out that this integrationist route will reduce costs and time in the international transport of merchandise, since through it Bolivia will access ports in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans directly.
The Minister of Public Works, Édgar Montaño, informed the press in July of last year that the national government will invest more than 3.2 billion bolivianos (457 million dollars) until 2025 for the construction of the Bi-Oceanic Integration Rail Corridor.
For their part, sources from the Bolivian Foreign Ministry told the press that Bolivia and Brazil are fine-tuning agreements in the fields of agriculture, industry, border security and the development of the binational corridor.
This route will facilitate the exit of Bolivian products to the Pacific markets quickly and efficiently, it was reported.
Gustavo Petro, meanwhile, proposed in his speech on Tuesday at the Celac Summit to build a railway that connects Colombia, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela.
“Can’t the Pacific be integrated through a train that joins our main cities and through Venezuelan and Colombian territory to reach the Atlantic?” asked the president.
Petro added that this railway will help the Plurinational State which, having no access to the sea, currently has difficulties in reaching other neighboring nations.
“Wouldn’t Bolivia have a chance there? When there is no sea, wouldn’t it have a chance to link to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans? The issue of the trains (…) is on the right track”, concluded Petro.
ef/jha/jpm
