Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been in telephone contact with the leaders who attended the earlier summit in Quito, Ecuador. She also visited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas for trade talks where the two discussed the Colombian situation, officials said.

According to Argentine presidential aides, Fernandez also persuaded Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who stayed away from the Quito talks, to attend the summit, which will take place Aug. 28 in the scenic Argentine resort of Bariloche.

Fernandez said she brokered the summit to explore further the possibility of dialogue and to look into ways of reaching an agreement among the neighboring countries.

Venezuela has been the strongest critic of closer Colombian-U.S. military collaboration and has received backing from Ecuador.

At last weekend's summit Chavez raised the temperature with his fiery rhetoric, warning of war clouds over Latin America and an imminent invasion of his country from Colombian territory.

Following the Venezuelan campaign, several countries that had echoed his early skepticism about the U.S. presence in Colombia seemed to have backed off.

Before and during the Quito talks, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Paraguay counseled moderation and cited Bogota's sovereign right to choose its defense partners.

Amid inconclusive discussions, a strident Venezuela-backed resolution condemning Colombia for agreeing to U.S. troop increases failed to win support among the delegates.

Colombia has denied its closer military collaboration with the United States means opening of U.S. bases on its territory. The U.S. administration has pointed out any troop increases will be within the framework of existing accords and U.S. forces will be sharing Colombia's existing military bases.

The Colombian-U.S. military collaboration is focused on stemming the flow of narcotics into North America and containing armed insurgency led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Colombia's government says FARC is backing cartels involved with drug-trafficking in return for funding and weapons for its operations against the Colombian government.

Colombia's President Uribe said he agreed to attend the upcoming summit after intercession by Fernandez but would insist on a wider discussion on military alliances of countries that have been critical of his ties with the United States.

Colombian media said Uribe would also seek discussion at the summit on "illegal traffic in arms" -- a reference to previous allegations of Venezuelan arms assistance to FARC guerrillas.

Analysts said the planned summit would likely follow the signing of new agreements this week for increased U.S. troop movements into Colombia to build up the anti-narcotic operation.

Leaders of the UNASUR countries that attended the last summit and will resume their talks at Bariloche have said they would seek agreement on an agenda for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama during the U.N. General Assembly in September.

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