Zuid-Amerikaanse landen bekijken mogelijkheid om EU-achtige samenwerking op te zetten (en)

South American leaders have said they will set up a high-level body to examine the idea of setting up an EU-style regional union.

Bolivia's president Evo Morales finished a two-day summit of the South American Community of Nations by saying that he hoped that a such an economic bloc could become a reality within five years.

"We don't want it to take as long as with the European Union - 50 years to create. I hope it can take us less. Three, four, five years," said Mr Morales, according to Reuters.

"We seek that South America be forever a region of peace that works to solve the economic problems of its historically abandoned majority,'' he continued.

The leaders agreed to "lay the cornerstone of the South American integration process" with complaints that the current set up under the Community of Nations, covering 12 countries, means that there is no power to see through and implement decisions.

"Let's admit it, we take decisions but we do not have the power to implement them," said Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

The study-group will be part of an overall office set up in Rio de Janeiro to look at regional integration, including even the idea of a South American parliament.

South America is not the only region to consider an EU-type model. Africa has also created the African Union, which is loosely based on the European Union.