Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday in Montevideo that his country will surely be admitted into the Common Market of the South (Mercosur).

"We are already integrated into Mercosur," Chavez said when being asked about the process of Venezuela's full entry into South America's trade bloc.

Chavez, who is currently in Uruguay for a Mercosur meeting aimed to reach a final decision on Venezuela's full membership, has described the forthcoming integration as of historic importance to Venezuela.

Mercosur is crucial to regional trade integration, Chavez said before departing for the meeting, while dismissing the US-proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) as a kind of domination and enslavement.

"The FTAA is dead," Chavez said on Thursday, suggesting that the region needs the Mercosur model.

Mercosur was founded in 1991 by Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest crude oil exporter and the third biggest economy in South America, joined Mercosur in July 2004 as an associate member.

Mercosur has decided to reform the Asuncion Treaty, under which the bloc was established, to lay down conditions for the full entry of Venezuela.

Source: Xinhua