Caracas, 8 June (AVN-RHC) -- Outgoing UNASUR chief María Emma Mejía said that defining a doctrine to defend energy and natural resources will be a challenge to Venezuelan Alí Rodríguez Araque when he takes on the position of Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations.

Interviewed in Quito, Ecuador, by local newspaper El Telégrafo, Mejia said her successor is “a veteran experienced in energy matters.” She added that Rodríguez will succeed in defining a doctrine on natural resources, in order to find a way for the richest regions of the world to preserve them and protect them not only for the region, but for humanity.”

Alí Rodríguez Araque will take office next Monday in Bogotá, Colombia, during an extraordinary meeting of UNASUR foreign ministers. He has previously been Energy and Oil Minister, president of Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA and secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

In March 2011, during a meeting of the Council of UNASUR Foreign Ministers in Quito, the members of the group decided that Mejía and Rodríguez take turns in the post of Secretary General by the end of their one-year term.

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