The leaders of Venezuela and Colombia finally to set a date for a bilateral meeting on their nation's border crisis, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced.

Nicolás Maduro and Juan Manuel Santo will meet in Quito, Ecuador's capital, under the auspices of Correa, El Heraldo reported. Both said for days they were willing to discuss the situation in person, but representatives had long failed to agree on the details of the proposed encounter.

Also present at next week's meeting will be Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez, who was invited to help mediate in the conflict that has led to the shutdown of key border checkpoints between Venezuela and Colombia, as well as to the expulsion of thousands of undocumented Colombian immigrants whose families had lived in the neighboring country for years.

"President Juan Manuel Santos has accepted the invitation to a dialogue extended by President Rafael Correa and President Tabaré Vázquez to meet on Monday with President Nicolás Maduro," Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín announced in a press conference. The goal of the encounter would be to "have a conversation among the four and, in that way, advance the dialogue with President Maduro," she noted.

Holguín's Venezuelan counterpart, Delcy Rodríguez, meanwhile, announced the heads of state of the Union of South American Nations bloc would similarly meet on Sept. 21 to discuss the dispute, Telesur noted. The high-level encountered had been requested by Argentina, a close Venezuelan ally, the semi-official television network added.

Despite the announcements, however, Caracas on Thursday closed the last remaining bridge connecting Venezuela with Colombia, and Colombian authorities said that Venezuelan security forces had set up a barricade preventing cars from crossing the José Antonio Páez bridge that connects the provincial capital of Arauca with the plains of Apure, Fox News Latino reported.

Bogotá reacted angrily to Maduro's latest move, the news channel noted. "I'll repeat it again: Expanding border closures isn't the way to bring about a solution to the problems affecting our border," Santos insisted.