The former president spoke at an international forum organized by the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) at its headquarters in Montevideo.

Samper mentioned common problems for the region, among them drug trafficking, arms trafficking and corruption that demand a return to reintegration after the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We have not been able to reintegrate, said the also former secretary general of Unasur.

The main problem is that we are not integrated to face a key problem such as climate change, he added.

Samper pointed out that free trade has hit the principles of integration, which he defined as ‘building the region’.

This requires protecting Amazonian biodiversity, it has to do with infrastructure, technology, free mobility of goods, services and, above all, proposals, he said.

It must be a South American and Latin American integration, he defined, and considered it indispensable in view of the failure of neoliberal schemes and the ongoing de-globalization.

During the event, Aladi launched the Postgraduate Course on Integration in the Region.

The Secretary General of Aladi, Sergio Abreu, described it as a step in the training of new professional cadres capable of facing the challenges of the integration processes.

Also for the training of diplomats in times of technological revolution, productive, digital and above all, he stressed, social gaps in the most unequal region of the planet.

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