Brazil opened a new bridge into Bolivia and set the cornerstone for another to link with Peru on Wednesday in a bid to speed up South American integration process.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met his Bolivian and Peruvian counterparts Carlos Mesa and Alejandro Toledo along their shared borders in Assis, Brazil.

After Lula and Mesa inaugurated a new bridge, named "friendship," between Brasileia, Brazil, and Cobija, Bolivia, the Brazilian president and Toledo inaugurated the construction of a Brazilian-funded suspension bridge between Assis and Inapari, Peru.

The bridge, named "integration," is expected to be completed in one year and will become an important link between Peru and the South America's largest country.

"The construction of a South American nation begins with the physical integration of the towns," Lula said at the ceremony. He called the border meeting as "historical unity" among the three South American nations.

Mesa said that the three countries will create, "shoulder to shoulder, a South American nation that we are all dreaming of."

All three leaders lauded the bridges as a way to boost trade between the neighboring nations. Analysts say the construction of border bridges is part of a proposal on the South American infrastructure integration, which will speed up South American integration process.
 
In addition, the three leaders signed pacts on strengthening technological cooperation in natural resources and the environment and easing the entry limits between the nations.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2004)