Ibero-American Summit reaches consensus on four major objectives

Santo Domingo, Mar 25 (EFE).-The Ibero-American Summit closed its four major objectives this Saturday with agreements on climate change, digital access, food security and financial architecture.

In addition, the Ibero-American heads of state and government reached agreements on other issues such as the III Four-Year Cooperation Action Plan 2023-2027, promoting gender equality and promoting democracy.

In the final press conference, summit host and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said that they also reached commitments on international law, including the principle of sovereignty, non-intervention in affairs between States and their legal equality.

They also agreed on the importance of a new migration regulation that respects the human rights of migrants and the coordination of the fight against transnational crime.

The 22 participating countries expressed their “deep concern” for the situation in Haiti and their solidarity with the Caribbean country.

The energy transition, marine sustainability, the Cuban embargo and the Malvinas were other topics discussed.

Immigration, support for Haiti and the relaunch of relations between Latin America and the European Union (EU) were among the important topics of the summit, explained by the secretary-general of the Ibero-American General Secretariat Andrés Allamand at the final press conference.

Allamand pointed to immigration as an important issue that affects all regions of the world and particularly the Ibero-American community.

He announced that in the search for solutions in the summit, a conference on migration in the third quarter of this year was raised, with the place and date pending.

Regarding Haiti, Allamand stressed that “it is becoming an important issue for the Ibero-American community,” and corroborated Abinader’s idea that without pacification there is no way forward for the Caribbean country.

“The previous step for those ideas such as the creation of institutions and the normalization of the country is its pacification,” he reiterated.

Regarding EU-Latin America relations, he highlighted the summit speech by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

“We want the Spanish presidency of the European Union in the second half of the year to be a boost. It has been eight years since we met between the two regions at a political level,” said Allamand, who hoped that the unconcluded agreements were finalized and the negotiations did not drag on, and that there is strong support for investments in both directions.

Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso spoke at the press conference for the next summit to be held on Nov. 29, 2024 in Quito.

“Ecuador accepts the challenge,” said Lasso, who referred to three other major issues that will be discussed at the regional forum: promotion of circular economies, food security and ecological transition.

“The challenges require the joint action of all the members of the Ibero-American community,” Lasso said and invited others to “look with hope” at the unity of the region.

The main stumbling block at this summit was reaching a compromise to create a new financial architecture in order to recover from the pandemic and face the difficult global economic situation.

It was not until lunch that it was agreed to give visibility to the question of financial architecture to mitigate external debt.

But Abinader wanted to specify that it was more of a matter of form than substance and now it will be the finance ministers who will work to materialize this project. EFE

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