Xinhua 2023:01:19.08:41
BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) — The VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that Argentina will host on Jan. 24 will aim to promote “unity in diversity.” to strengthen and consolidate the region as a zone of “peace,” affirmed Wednesday the Undersecretary of Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean, Gustavo Martínez Pandiani.
The representatives of the 33 countries that make up the mechanism will work to find “a common territory,” Martínez Pandiani told the state news agency Telam.
The official national coordinator of CELAC indicated that the debates, to be held in a hotel in the center of the city of Buenos Aires, will aim at “issues that unite the different delegations” but “always respect the different specificities”. in each of the countries.
He added that one of the goals of the meeting will be to “further strengthen CELAC as a mechanism for coordination and political agreement.”
Argentina holds the pro-temporary presidency of CELAC and “it has worked very well,” the State Department official said.
“President (Alberto) Fernández’s presidency has given it greater dynamism and presence outside the region itself, participating in summits such as the G7 (Group of Seven) and the G20 (Group of 20) and being the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean,” he stressed.
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry reported on Jan. 5 that during the CELAC summit, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero will present the South American country’s work in 2022, when he was in charge of the mechanism, a task that included 15 axes and more than 60 activities. .
Martínez Pandiani pointed out that Argentina wants CELAC to stop being “a mere agreement mechanism between presidents” to “become an integration system much more aimed at societies, at ordinary people”.
Established in 2010, CELAC includes the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and was born with a commitment to promote the gradual integration process of the region and to reconcile the unity and political, economic, social and cultural of the more than 600 million inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Brazilian government officially announced on January 12, in front of Argentina, its return to the forum, which it abandoned in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
(Web Editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)