The Ibero-American Summit, held in the Dominican Republic, It closed its four major objectives with consensus: environmental charter, digital charter, food safety and financial architecture, the latter the most discussed until the last moment.
besides, Ibero-American heads of state and government They reached agreements on other issues such as the III Four-Year Cooperation Action Plan 2023-2027, the decision to promote gender equality and the commitment to promoting democracy.
In the final press conference, the host of the summit, the Dominican President luis abinaderHe specified that they 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, the coordination of the fight against transnational crime and the need for a fairer system.
The twenty-two participating countries expressed their «deep concern» about the situation in Haiti and expressed their total solidarity with the Caribbean country. The energy transition, marine sustainability, the Cuban embargo and the situation of the Falklands 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 issues of the summit, as explained by the Secretary General of Ibero-America, Andrés Allamand, at the final press conference.
Allamand said immigration is an important issue that affects all regions of the world and particularly the Ibero-American community. The Ibero-American Secretary General announced that in the search for solutions from the summit, the idea of organizing a conference on immigration in the third quarter of this year came up, although the place and date are still pending.
Regarding the situation in 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 solution for the Caribbean country.
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 the political level.
«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, highlight the intervention at the summit of the head of European diplomacy, the Spanish 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 unfinished agreements would be closed and not last forever. negotiations, and that there is strong support for investment in both directions.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso spoke at the press conference for the next summit to be held on November 29, 2024 in Quito, under the motto «Innovation, inclusion and sustainability in Latin America». «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 requirements for the joint action of all the members of the Ibero-American community,» Lasso said and invited to «look with hope» at the unity of the region.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader
The main stumbling block at this summit was reaching a compromise to create a new financial architecture, to help recover from the consequences of the pandemic and face the difficult international situation. It was not until lunch that the question of the financial architecture to mitigate the external debt was given visibility.
But Abinader wanted to specify that more of an issue was dealt with in a formal way than in substance and now it will be the ministers of Treasury and Finance who will work to carry out this project.
President Gustavo Petro asked that integration not remain rhetoric
For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro summit request
Ibero-American Latin America that has real integration and not discourse, while calling for the union of countries around clean energy to fight the climate crisis.
«Integration is more rhetorical than anything else, European integration is concrete, North American integration is concrete, very concrete, Latin American integration is discursive,» Petro said at the summit held in Santo Domingo where he also asked that Other countries are invited as observers, especially African ones.
In this direction, the Colombian president said that one of the veins that can be a bond of integration is that of «clean energy.» «Just as Europe once found itself after the war around the coal, the fossil economy, but (that) allowed them the basis of their true integration, we have to integrate around clean energy,» he stressed.
Petro recalled that he has proposed energy integration in different scenarios from Alaska (United States) to Patagonia by building an electrical network. This integration, he explained, can lead Latin American countries to be more self-sufficient and also to become powers for the generation of clean energy and help combat the climate crisis.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo
«Integration is more rhetorical than anything else, European integration is concrete, North American integration is concrete, very concrete, Latin American integration is discursive.
He also recalled that this energy can reach the United States and Canada, two countries that generate a large part of the planet’s CO2, the cause of the climate crisis that endangers the lives of humanity.
The Colombian head of state assured that if things continue as they are «our grandchildren in the year 2070 will not be able to live in our countries» due to the effects of climate change.
For this situation not to occur, Petro said, they must realize «great transformations in the world» and recalled that it should be Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who did not attend the Ibero-American Summit, a meeting of American countries on the migration, which in his opinion, is also part of the consequence of climate change.
On the other hand, Petro said that the international community should condemn «any type of invasion», alluding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries to which they did not separate directly.
«The war that we are witnessing today, which has its reasons there, which is an invasion of one country over another, which cannot be criticized if we applaud other invasions, what must be generated is a rejection of humanity over any type of invasion,» he said.
The president added: «We cannot waste time in a war when humanity’s time is cut short by the climate crisis.» Petro took advantage of his intervention at the Ibero-American Summit to return to defend former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who he said he should be sitting in that plenary session in Santo Domingo, along with the rest of the heads of State and Government.
Santo Domingo, Efe Agency