Four Latin American countries to bolster energy integration

LIMA, Government ministers from Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador agreed on Friday to advance an electricity interconnection project to strengthen energy integration and security in the region.

Foreign and energy ministers from the four Latin American countries met in Lima and discussed "the great interest and political will to boost the project," Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde told the media.

Belaunde said the officials reached an agreement to set up an "energy corridor" between the four countries. Under the agreement, steps will be taken to identify the necessary infrastructure and define mechanisms of electricity exchange.

Currently, Ecuador and Colombia share interconnected electricity grids and so do Peru and Ecuador, which represents one step forward in setting up an energy corridor in the future, said Esteban Albornoz, Ecuadorian minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.

The agreement will come into force within 30 days.

"The intention of our four countries is to build an electricity infrastructure according to their own conditions, to have access to energy production and to be profitable in selling and purchasing," Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said.