The XXIX Ibero-American Summit started this Thursday in Cuenca (Ecuador) with the lowest leadership attendance in the history of this forum, which began in 1991and without any president of Latin America, with the exception of the host, Daniel Noboaa fact also unprecedented in this series of meetings between the twenty-two countries of Ibero-America.
Only the King of Spain, Felipe VI, attended this event, which has the motto ‘Innovation, inclusion and sustainability’; the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the head of Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, while, in another unprecedented event, The chairs of three countries were empty: Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuelawhich maintain broken relations with Ecuador.
Despite the scarce presence of leadersthe delegations are working to adopt a declaration that includes the agreements reached during the preparatory meetings, especially on cooperation, but conversations are encountering obstacles in countries contrary to gender policies and focused on the sustainable development goals (SDG), according to sources close to the negotiation.
Tensions also focused on Cuba’s disagreement with the claim of Argentina to eliminate from the declaration a condemnation of the United States blockade of the Caribbean country, according to other sources consulted by EFE during the development of the meeting of foreign ministers.
Given the difficulty of achieving the unanimity necessary to issue a declaration from this Summit, countries such as Spain, Costa Rica, Panama and Chile promoted a declaration supported by the vast majority of participants, which will not be an official document of the event.
Allamand calls for cohesion
“It would be absurd to ignore that The region is experiencing turbulent times“, admitted the Ibero-American Secretary General, the Chilean Andrés Allamand, in his speech at the opening ceremony.
The head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib) remarked that “the world needs more, not less, multilateralismcooperation and solidarity”, in a context where “politics is besieged by fragmentation and polarization”.
“The consequence of this is the great difficulty in generating consensus, which slows down the reforms that could lay new foundations for prosperity and coexistence,” said Allamand.
In that sense, he recalled that “the Ibero-American meeting allows us to distinguish ourselves in a world in which conflicts explode, threats loom, and injustices are perpetuated.”
“The Ibero-American meeting is what allows, in times of differences, to reach consensus, in times of fragmentation, to provide unity, in times of division and to promote cohesion”, at the same time, “in times of differences to take steps towards argument, but not to exclusion”.
So, Allamand invited to “claim Ibero-America” and take advantage of “more than 30 years of work in which the search for consensus has prevailed and in which advances have been generated with a real impact on people’s lives.” “This is not the time for resignation, but for ambition,” he added.
A Summit, despite the problems and conflicts
For his part, Noboa affirmed that his administration has worked to move this Summit forward, “despite all the internal and external problems and conflicts.”
The president, the youngest in Latin America, at 36 years old, called to generate innovative solutions against transnational organized crimeclimate change, labor inclusion of young people, environmental protection, access to education and strengthening connectivity.
For this reason, he encouraged the support of youth through job creation and vocational training, which in his opinion will open paths towards equitable economic growth.
“This will only be possible to achieve with the commitment of the business sectoras evidenced in the XV Ibero-American Business Meeting, which concluded this afternoon with the approval of the ‘Commitment to employability’,” Noboa celebrated.
“The alarming unemployment rates make us an easy target for organized crime, which undermines the economic and social development of our nations. We must promote policies that encourage public-private investments and allocate resources to education to forge a better future for youth,” he concluded.
After the inauguration of the XXIX Ibero-American Summit, The forum will continue this Friday with the development of the plenary sessionsin which the heads of State and Government, as well as delegates from other representations, will participate.