Madrid-. The King of Spain, Felipe VI, today emphasized the great opportunity that in the near future there will be an EU-CELAC summit on the future of relations with Latin America.
During his opening speech at the VI. At the 4th Congress of the Alliance for Ibero-America Business Council (Ceapi), His Majesty emphasized that there is enormous potential for reviving cooperative ties between the two regions.
Stressing the importance of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) summit in Brussels on July 17-18, the Spanish monarch said it was a historic occasion to strengthen and deepen a strategic alignment Alliance.
“Therefore we have to look at it with very particular interest as it obviously has the potential to strengthen the agenda between both regions,” he stressed, although acknowledging that there are certainly “different realities and sensibilities that sometimes do not easily reconcile are to be brought”.
The Ceapi Congress, held in the main auditorium of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, brings together more than 400 executives from several of the most important Latin American companies.
Felipe VI argued that the relationship between Spain and Latin America has not only an economic-corporate component, “but also a deep historical-cultural root that should be extended to all of Europe and that goes back more than 500 years.”
He also recalled that Spain is the leading European investor in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Brazil, and the second largest in the world behind the United States.
The event, attended by the 22 countries of the Iberoamerican concert, started this Wednesday with more moderate expectations due to the progress of the general elections in Spain and what their results could mean for the EU presidency in the second half of 2023.
After a few years of slowing down their strategic collaboration, 2023 is a pivotal year. They present the content of the first debate on the appointment on May 31, after a welcome dinner at the Teatro Real the night before.
They stressed that in a context of economic uncertainty, shifts in the production matrix and threats to democracies, the EU and Celac had an opportunity to reinvigorate their strategic relationship and rebuild the alliance at the Brussels summit in July.
The speakers in this first debate are Enrique Iglesias (Uruguay), first Ibero-American Secretary General and honorary Ceapi; and Andrés Allamand (Chile), current Ibero-American Secretary General.
Also Sergio Díaz-Granados (Colombia), Executive President of the Latin American Development Bank, and Mariano Jabonero (Spain), Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States.