The meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and former President Ernesto Samper was held at the Miraflores Palace in the Venezuelan capital.   | Photo: @PresidencialVen

Caracas, December 2 (RHC)-- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro held a meeting with former Colombian President and former Secretary General of UNASUR, Ernesto Samper to join efforts for the revival of regional integration.  President Maduro was accompanied by the country's Vice Oresident, Delcy Rodríguez.

During the meeting held in the Venezuelan capital, Maduro and Samper also discussed the scope of diplomatic and bilateral relations with Colombia.  The meeting between the Venezuelan president and the former Colombian president is part of the context of the joint petition to be submitted by former presidents, ministers, parliamentarians and intellectuals to strengthen multilateral instances in favor of peace.

Through a letter addressed to the Head of State, they advocated for "the reconstruction of an effective pace for South American coordination" in the spirit of a renewed Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

Likewise, Latin American political leaders and intellectuals proposed the incorporation of new actors to accelerate the common effort of the nations, both at governmental level and in universities, institutes, cultural centers, trade unions and other sectors of society.

It should be noted that former President Ernesto Samper, when he was at the head of UNASUR, closely followed the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition during the years 2016-2017. Samper and stressed at the time, that dialogue was the way for peace in the country.

Hours before the meeting with President Maduro, the former Colombian president participated in the Forum "Regional integration, perspectives and experiences of Latin America and the Caribbean", organized in the context of the XLVIII Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA). 

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