US Vice President Joe Biden, in Chile to discuss world economic issues as well as relations within the Americas, Friday proposed that Latin America and the United States "work together, as partners," and move "toward a new day" in their relations.

Biden arrived in Chile Friday, where he was to meet with President Michele Bachelet ahead of a so-called Progressive Leaders' Summit in the seaside resort of Vina del Mar intended to prepare for next week's G20 summit in London on the global financial crisis.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that the Latin American and Caribbean region "will not attend passively" the debates on the global crisis, but will instead seek to

Eight presidents left the Iberian American Summit in San Salvador before it closed Friday, in a mass escape that made the gathering's last day lacklustre.

US President George W Bush on Thursday said he recognized global concerns about the far reaches of the financial crisis and reiterated that wealthy nations were working together to bring markets under control.

The global financial crisis unleashed panic Monday in the stock exchange in Sao Paulo: just 18 minutes after the starting bell in the largest stock exchange in Latin America, trading was suspended after the leading index Bovespa fell over 10 per cent.