By IANS
Montevideo (Argentina) : Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has taken over the presidency of the South American common market Mercosur for the first half of 2008, BuaNews agency reported Thursday.
Amid applause at the 34th Summit of head of states of the bloc, the stateswoman received the symbolic mallet from Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez.
The bloc has Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay as full members, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru as associate members, while Venezuela and Bolivia are the new entrants.
Fernandez has promised to exercise her mandate in Mercosur with equity and passion.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Nicanor Duarte (Paraguay), Hugo Chavez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Michelle Bachelet (Chile) also attended the ceremony.
The heads of Mercosur member countries have also unanimously approved three documents that were agreed upon earlier by their foreign ministers.
The first document deals with Venezuela’s entry to Mercosur, the second is to create a forum for consultation and political agreement and the third was the final declaration of the summit.