The 22 countries of the Iberoamerican Community of Nations will celebrate a summit this Friday and Saturday in the Dominican Republic that will finalize four instruments prepared by the different delegations. The XXVIII. Meetings of the organization will discuss four agreements on climate change, food security, digital divide and will a proposal on credit and international financial architecture in the meetings of foreign ministers and heads of state and government convened under the motto “Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America”. treat. In any case, the meeting in Santo Domingo is also trying to lay the groundwork to facilitate integration between the two shores of the Atlantic, and some leaders, like Chile’s Gabriel Boric, are determined to stimulate a debate on the region’s migratory challenges.
After holding industry conferences on the climate crisis and economic challenges, the summit plans to adopt two letters, a strategy and a joint statement. The first, christened the Ibero-American Environmental Charter (also known as the Ibero-American Green Pact), was drafted last July as “the largest political agreement reached by the Ibero-American Conference on Environmental Issues.” Then the preparation of the working document began, which, according to the organization’s sources, provides some guidelines for public policies to protect biodiversity, fight pollution and deal with the consequences of global warming.
The second is an Ibero-American charter of digital principles and rights. This agreement is based on the diagnosis of the gaps that already exist between the different countries and within their territories, in some cases particularly deep due to the economic fabric and geographical specificities. According to the draft, it is about promoting inclusion and promoting laws that make an impact in both the public and private spheres. For example, the education sector or the digital transformation of companies and industries with the aim of increasing competitiveness, their development and the impact on the labor market.
The third agreement is a food security strategy. The proposals put forward by the delegations aim to increase trade within the region, support the development of supply chains, promote or consolidate smallholder agriculture, and the financing systems for both the agri-food sector and the promotion of digital infrastructure improve in rural areas. This section is also particularly linked to initiatives against climate change. The third report from the La Rábida Observatory, presented on Wednesday by the Ibero-American Secretariat headed by former Chilean Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand, indicates that 45% of greenhouse gas emissions in the 22 countries of the Community are caused by the food sector in its Sentence.
The fourth objective is to make a special statement on the international financial architecture, ie a proposal to pursue a more inclusive, flexible and fair financial system through credit, especially in the context of the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The underlying purposes are ultimately the fight against inequality and energy transition processes. All documents have been prepared with a gender approach that recommends measures to increase women’s participation and reduce the gap in the labor market. Another focus is education, with a special focus on children, as well as innovation and general health.
Spain proposes a reference to Ukraine
Achieving this consensus is significant because it means reaching an agreement between 22 delegations whose daily political and economic lives are shaped by different agendas and which sometimes have ideological antipodes. And it is common that alongside the debates scheduled at the summit, there are presidents, foreign ministers or delegations trying to address other urgencies. For example, the Spanish government will propose to include a paragraph on Ukraine in the final declaration and refer to a just peace within the framework established by the United Nations. On the other hand, there are no plans to deal with the serious crisis in Nicaragua.
There are also countries trying to get a gesture for their interests. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez called this Thursday at the meeting in Santo Domingo to “facilitate financial transfers and technologies to developing countries and equitable access to resources that reverse the enormous inequalities”, but above all he took advantage of the participation of the island’s government to launch a message against Washington and the Joe Biden administration.
“We are confident that this meeting in the sister republic of Dominican Republic will demonstrate the firm rejection of the arbitrary and unilateral designation of our country by the United States as a sponsor of terrorism, and we hope to count on the traditional and valuable support of Latin America at the summit for the fair claim to end the criminal and illegal blockade imposed on the Cuban people and tightened to unprecedented extremes during the pandemic,” Rodríguez said in a video broadcast on social networks
Adding to these claims is the absence of the leaders of the two Latin American giants by GDP and population, Brazil and Mexico. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did not go to the Dominican Republic to visit China, while the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a little friend of international summits, will not even send Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. The Mexican delegation will be led by Secretary of State Maximiliano Reyes, responsible for Latin America. On the other hand, Colombian Gustavo Petro, who met Nicolás Maduro this Thursday in Caracas (who ultimately will not attend the summit), Argentine Alberto Fernández and Chilean Gabriel Boric will try to strengthen their alliance of progressive governments. At the same time, Fernández and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira will join forces to try to revive the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), another regional forum that marked the rise of the so-called pink tide two decades ago.