Buenos Aires, Apr 7 (IANS): Argentina will officially rejoin the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to "promote its institutional revitalisation and build an increasingly integrated region", Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said here.

Cafiero described the return as crucial for Argentina, for it would consolidate an increasingly integrated region "with greater intra-regional trade and higher levels of cooperation for development", reports Xinhua news agency.

President Alberto Fernandez announced on March 21 the decision to rejoin the regional bloc during a meeting in Buenos Aires with members of the Puebla Group and the Latin American Council for Justice and Democracy.

At the end of the meeting, the President said that in "in Latin America we are all in the same boat... That is why we must revitalise UNASUR as soon as possible".

Argentina left the bloc in 2019.

After Uruguay's withdrawal from the organisation in 2020, only Guyana, Suriname, Bolivia and Venezuela remain in union.