Montevideo, August 15 (Mercopress-RHC) -- The presidential summit between the heads of state of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) which was scheduled for next week has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts amongst member countries, according to the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry. It will now be held in October.

At the summit, Surinam will hand over the presidency to Uruguay and Ernesto Samper is to be confirmed as the next Secretary General.

According to President José Mujica's executive office, the challenges of coordinating activities for 22 heads of state accounted for the rescheduling.

The summit was expected to begin on August 18th with meetings between technicians and consultants. The key dates were August 21st and 22nd, when the presidents of the bloc were to discuss an extensive list of activities.

Another significant issue at the summit was the approval of former Colombian President Ernesto Samper as the next Secretary General of UNASUR. He is scheduled to replace Venezuela's Ali Rodríguez.

Despite the suspension, Uruguay has yet to confirm if the previous technical meetings have also been rescheduled. It is also not clear what will happen with the announced visit of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet that was to coincide with the UNASUR summit.