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Origins
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The IIRSA Initiative came up from the First Meeting of Presidents of South America held in Brasilia on August 2000, where the regional leaders agreed to take joint actions to promote the process of political, social and economic integration of South America, including the modernization of the regional infrastructure and specific actions to stimulate the integration and development of isolated sub regions.
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The Creation of IIRSA
The South American Presidents met for the first time on August 31 and September the 1st of 2000 in Brasilia, Federative Republic of Brazil. In this historical and pioneer meeting the regional leaders agreed to take joint actions to promote the process of political, social and economic integration of South America, addressing an agenda of priority issues. The Brazilian Communiqué shows the agreements that were reached for each of these issues and it became a very important document, setting a milestone in the process of regional cooperation, that has been strengthen from this meeting until the present days.
In particular, on the matter of infrastructural integration, the Presidents agreed on the creation of the IIRSA Initiative, with the central goal of advancing in the modernization of the regional infrastructure and the adoption of specific actions to promote the integration and social and economic development. This commitment is transformed into an Action Plan formulated at the meeting of Southamerican Ministers of Transport, Energy and Telecommunications, held in Montevideo on December 2000 which established the main lines of action of IIRSA and became a framework for the development of IIRSA´s activities
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Link to the First Meeting of South American Presidents Action Plan
In compliance with the mandate conferred at the Meeting of South American Presidents held in Brasilia on August 31 and September 1st, 2000, the Ministers of Transport, Energy and Telecommunications of the twelve countries prepared an Action Plan for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America, with a prevalence of the EID approach, supplemented by actions within the Sectoral Integration Processes (PSIs - Procesos Sectoriales de Integración), to improve competitiveness and promote the region’s sustainable growth.
On the basis of the Guiding Principles and with the purpose of building a shared vision among the countries, IIRSA was created to foster South American economic development with social equity. Since its creation, the activities undertaken have focused on identifying the physical, regulatory and institutional requirements for planning and implementing basic infrastructure to attain South American integration, for which purpose three distinct fields were taken into account: coordinating plans and investments; ensuring the compatibility and harmonization of related regulatory and institutional aspects; and creating innovative public and private funding mechanisms.
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Link to more information about IIRSA´s Action Plan Link to the Meeting of Ministers of Transport, Energy and Telecommunications, Montevideo 2000
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