QUITO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Summit of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) will be held here Monday to discuss regional security, climate change and other issues of common concerns. The following are key facts about Unasur.

    Unasur was established on May 23, 2008, when Constitutive Treaty was signed by the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, during the third Summit of Heads of State in Brasilia, Brazil.

    Unasur is aimed to promote integration among South American countries.

    Presidents of 12 Unasur nations will meet once every year, and the foreign ministers will meet once every six months.

    The general secretary of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), the general secretary of the ALADI and representatives of any institution of regional cooperation will also attend these meetings.

    The rotating presidency of Unasur will be held for one year. The current presidency is held by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. And Ecuador is set to take over the presidency at this summit.

    According to the Constitutive Treaty, Unasur's headquarters is located in Quito, Ecuador, the South American Parliament based in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the Bank of the South in Caracas, Venezuela.

    The Unasur initiatives include the creation of a single market to eliminate the fees for non-sensitive products by 2014 and for sensitive products by 2019.

    Unasur also has an initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America (IIRSA), including the construction of the Inter-oceanic Highway to link the Pacific coast countries to allow better connections with Bolivia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil.

    Unasur includes an area of 17,715,335 sq km, with an estimated population of 384.381 million.

    Unasur is the successor of the South American Community of Nations (CSN) which was dropped in the first South American Energy Summit on April 16, 2007.

    Modeling the European Union, the CSN was founded as a continent-wide political and economic group on Dec. 8, 2004, when South American leaders signed the Cuzco Declaration at the third South American summit in the Peruvian city of Cuzco.