Spain wants that 2023 is the year of Latin America in Europethe Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, stated this Thursday in Santo Domingo, where he has arrived accompanying King Felipe VI for the Ibero-American Summit.
According to what the minister told the press, Spain wants “Latin America to be definitively in the heart of the European agenda with a program of work and financing”.
In this meeting, he added, “we are going to transfer our effort, our desire for how Latin America is going to be one of the great priorities of our presidency of the Council of the EU that starts on July 1.”
“It will also allow us to Spain talk to many countries that will be present at the EU-CELAC summit (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) on July 17 and 18 in Brussels to begin to press what are the expectations of Latin America from that summit, to also transfer what is the vision of Spain”, said Albares.
He highlighted the “special importance” and the “particularly symbolic” nature of this Ibero-American Summit, in which “We are going to be able to see each other for the first time in many years” after the pandemic and underlined the importance that Spain always gives to these meetings, attending at the highest level.
In the opinion of Albares, “it is a moment of change in the world, a convulsive and complex moment as there has probably not been since the fall of the Berlin Wall and, therefore, it is a moment in which it is even more important than those countries that we share values, languages (…) we meet to talk about those interests (…) that are common to us”.
Priority issues for Spain
Among them, he cited the environment, the digital rights of citizens and the relaunch of development cooperation within the summit system.
He stressed that all the countries will be represented at this summit at a very high level, “here there will be no empty seats: “the important thing is not who, but what each country contributes”.
Albarés, who pointed out that a debate on Nicaragua is not planned, has stated that the issue of Ukraine is a matter for the meeting of foreign ministers and for the final text, “Spain has presented several proposals”.
“By supporting Ukraine we not only defend the territorial unity and sovereignty of a country, but also we defend the most basic principles of the United Nations Charterand what we want for Ukraine is a just peace,” he stressed.
Another issue that will come out at the summit will be Haiti“we have repeatedly demonstrated our commitment” and very soon there will be a visit at the highest level of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation.
“It is necessary that the international community look towards Haiti (…) Of course Spain will be part of any formula to support Haiti, it is a situation that obviously worries us and we have always been present”, he assured.
Ibero-American Foreign Ministers will meet this Friday in Santo Domingo, one day before the meeting of the heads of State and Government of the region in which will address the current situation and the community’s perspectives for the future.