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The Ibero-American Summit strengthens the integration between the two shores of the Atlantic

2023-03-26T21:36:02.228Z


The 22 countries of the Ibero-American community close the Santo Domingo meeting with a consensus on climate change, food security and digitization


The Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) concluded on Saturday night with a central message of cohesion that strengthens the path towards regional integration and a rapprochement between the two shores of the Atlantic.

The XXVIII meeting of the 22 countries of the community showed the vocation of this forum compared to other international conferences more conditioned by the corset of diplomacy.

The debate revealed deep ideological clashes and there were even crosses of accusations between Latin American countries.

But the essential thing was the consensus of all the members on a series of instruments that consolidate the alliance.

The so-called Santo Domingo Declaration adopts three of the four planned documents: on climate change, food security and digitization.

Peace,

The Ibero-American Secretary General, the Chilean diplomat Andrés Allamand, called to "maintain

Latin America as a privileged space for dialogue, political articulation, consensus and cooperation”.

Under this umbrella, the discussion between presidents, heads of state, vice presidents and foreign ministers revealed the idea that dialogue can prosper and unity be tested despite differences.

XXVIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State. Mónica González Islas

At the summit, for example, an important agreement on the reform of an international financial architecture and access to credit fell, frustrated by the opposition of Cuba, whose president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, charged against the "bubbles of financial capitalism."

However, the community of Ibero-American countries decided to continue trying, with a view to the next summit to be held on November 29, 2024 in Quito, and issued a brief statement that highlights "the need for a structural reform of the financial architecture that allows a greater flow of resources for sustainable development and expands the limits of access that Ibero-American countries have in terms of financing”.

The text questions the "overcharges on loans" and is committed to adopting "innovative financial instruments,

The invasion of Russia in the Ukraine was another of the discussions that indirectly flew over the summit.

The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, openly condemned his speech, calling it "unacceptable."

However, achieving a unanimous and explicit position, in a forum in which, in addition to Cuba, countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia and El Salvador participate, which did not condemn the offensive of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the UN, was a difficult task. arduous.

Everything was thus in a pact of minimums through the references to peace in the international arena.

In it, all agree to work for "complete, just and lasting peace throughout the world", respecting "the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States, which will contribute, besides,

The way to help Haiti

The humanitarian crisis in Haiti, a country that borders precisely the Dominican Republic, which is cornered by criminal gangs and which is sinking into a whirlwind of corruption, misery and the absence of the State, was an unavoidable urgency at the Santo Domingo meeting.

The situation, aggravated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, led the local government, headed by Luis Abinader, to ask for support.

“There is no other way to help Haiti than to go and pacify Haiti,” he said.

The president of Costa Rica threw a cape during the debate with a call for international responsibility.

The paragraph included in the final declaration acknowledges the need for a multilateral mobilization, although it does not mention a peacekeeping force.

Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic and King of Spain Felipe VI.Mónica González Islas

The summit was attended by 13 delegations headed by their heads of state or government —in the case of Spain and Portugal they were represented twice, by the King, the president and their prime minister, respectively—, three vice presidents, five foreign ministers and Only Mexico delegated the defense of its positions to a director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The most significant absence was precisely that of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose government also did not send the chancellor to other international meetings.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva apologized for having scheduled a trip to China, which was finally postponed due to pneumonia.

And Nicolás Maduro, as usual, kept the unknown about his attendance until the end, finally canceled due to suspicion of covid-19 contagion.

Migrations, the challenge that affects everyone

All the leaders, present and absent, have to face a challenge that challenges the entire region on a daily basis: migration.

Most of the more than seven million Venezuelans who left in search of opportunities settled in Latin American countries, mainly Colombia, Peru, Chile and Ecuador.

Between Colombia and Panama, hundreds of people risk their lives every day crossing the Darien jungle, one of the most inhospitable and dangerous territories on the planet.

Thousands of migrants accumulate on the southern and northern borders of Mexico, while the Supreme Court of the United States has pending a decision on the so-called Title 42, a measure that allows hot returns to Mexico.

The Declaration of Santo Domingo calls for a "safe, orderly and regular migration",

but at the same time it calls for seeking "mechanisms that guarantee adequate management of migratory flows, agile and accessible migration regularization processes, the socioeconomic integration of migrants, support for host communities and the coordinated fight against organized transnational crime." ”.

With these premises, in the second semester of this year a forum on migrations will be held in Ecuador.

Borrell: a "key" year for relations between Europe and Latin America

The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, participated in the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit as a special guest.

Borrell recalled in his speech that 2023, which in the second semester will coincide with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, will be a "key" year for relations between Brussels and Latin America.

He indicated that both the meeting in Santo Domingo and the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) scheduled for next July convey "a powerful message and show our desire for greater collaboration."

“It will be the first summit of the EU and Celac since 2015. We have done something wrong so that so much time has passed without us sharing a common reflection”, he affirmed.


Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-03-26

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