On March 24 and 25, the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which brought together leaders from 22 countries, under the slogan “Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America.”
At the event, the heads of state of the Ibero-American countries signed the Santo Domingo Declarationin which they reaffirmed their support for multilateralism, solidarity, dialogue and international cooperation, in order to promote the fundamental pillars of the United Nations: peace and security, development and human rights.
In that document they made commitments to resolve various issues that affect the Ibero-American space, but they also signed 16 special announcements with proposals in the economic, social, sustainable energy fields or for the recovery of the tourism sector, among other issues, detailed the Ibero-American General Secretariat.
Migration: Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela
The immigration issue was one of the treaties at the summit. In the Declaration of Santo Domingo, the leaders pledged to favor a “safe, orderly and regular” migrationfully respecting the human rights of migrants.
They promised to jointly seek mechanisms that guarantee adequate management of migratory flows, agile and accessible migration regularization processes, the socioeconomic integration of migrants, support for host communities, and the coordinated fight against transnational organized crime and trafficking networks. of persons and smuggling of migrants.
They also expressed their willingness to continue working to eradicate the multidimensional causes of irregular migration. And they agreed to hold the IV Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development in 2023.
Chile arrived at the summit with tensions towards Bolivia and Venezuela precisely because of the migration issue. The president of that country, Gabriel Boric, had directly criticized La Paz and Caracas for allegedly making it difficult to expel migrants.
In addition, the Chilean president strengthened the militarization of Chile’s northern border in order to curb irregular migration. “We have to jointly address the emergencies that afflict our peoples. And two of them are particularly serious, at least today in Chile, security and the migratory phenomenon,” Boric said at the event on Saturday.
The president added that migration management constitutes today, perhaps, “one of the biggest regional challenges”Therefore, he urged to be able to achieve a safe, regular, orderly and humane process, “that protects the rights of people who emigrate and also the rights and security of the communities that host them.”
After his participation in the summit, Boric presented an assessment of his participation in the event and reported that the Chilean Foreign Minister, Alberto van Klaveren, held meetings with his counterparts from Bolivia, Rogelio Mayta, and from Venezuela, Yvan Gil .
“We have had good and promising days of work. Through Foreign Minister Van Klaveren, who has held various meetings, including the Foreign Ministers of Venezuela and Bolivia, to reinforce and improve bilateral work to begin to solve irregular traffic that crosses our borders,” he explained, according to a statement from the Chilean Presidency Press.
Van Klaveren also reported on it. “We have talked about very specific issues with our Bolivian friends, we have talked about the immigration issue, we have explained how serious this problem is for Chile; for the rest, it is a problem that affects a number of Latin American countries. And, of course, we have a work agenda with Bolivia,” he said this Monday morning, in an interview with Radio Duna.
Regarding Venezuela, the foreign minister commented that a space was created to specify a mechanism that allows progress in agreements on migration. “Here we go step by step, because the problem is very complex“He mentioned in statements to the press.
EU-Mercosur agreement
One of the documents approved by the leaders of the summit was the “Special Statement on the role of the Ibero-American Community in the relations of affinity and complementarity between Latin America and the Caribbean, and the European Union (EU)“.
In this text, barely two pages long, the heads of state took note of instruments such as the Association Agreement between Central America and the EU, the agreements that are pending to be signed in that bloc with Chile and Mexico, as well as the renewed commitment of the Market Southern Common (Mercosur) and the European integration mechanism to achieve a “balanced and mutually beneficial” treaty.
“These Agreements must become instruments that contribute effectively to increasing political dialogue, cooperation, trade and investment, creating new job opportunities, promoting technology transfer and, in general, improving the quality of life and prosperity of all parties, particularly in developing countries,” the document says.
Particularly on the agreement that the EU is negotiating with Mercosur, the countries that make up that South American instance spoke at the summit.
“It’s a good thing in these forums claim or try to insist on some agreements of some regional blocs here in Latin America, in the case of Mercosur with Europe”, said the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou.
He also said that “the continuous failures or frustrations to finish constituting these alliances ends up frustrating those partners who were so optimistic at the beginning.”
“It is unacceptable 25 years of a negotiation process that we cannot complete”commented, for his part, the president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez, while noting that he hopes that the negotiations between the two blocs will have “results that translate into concrete commitments to move towards the conclusive phase of an ambitious and balanced agreement” , which opens “new prospects for trade and investment.”
The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, held a meeting with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, as well as with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, where they analyzed aspects related to the Mercosur-Agreement. EU, reported the Casa Rosada.
At the meeting, Sanchez expressed his intention to seek to accelerate the negotiations during the Spanish presidency of the EU, a position that he will hold between July 1 and December 31.
Previously, on Friday, the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, held a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, whom he asked for support to conclude the negotiations as he was in charge of the EU.
Support to landlocked countries
A “Special Statement in support of landlocked developing countries” was also approved at the meeting, an initiative proposed by Paraguay.
In the document, the signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the overall objective of the Vienna Program of Action to “address more coherently the special development needs and challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries”, and collectively committed to “strengthen cooperation in the context of sustainable development for developing countries” in that condition.
Among other issues, in the communique they underline the importance of mobilizing resources to accelerate the application of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization, which will make it possible to counteract the high trade costs faced by developing countries. landlocked.
The approval of this text occurs between the long struggle between Bolivia and Chile for access to the sea for Bolivians, which was resumed last week, when President Luis Arce proposed to the Chilean government a seven-point agenda for “a new stage” of the bilateral relationship.
Precisely the first point has to do with the sea for Bolivia. “We will not stop proposing the need to work on the issue of our maritime claim with Chile. The Bolivian people will never renounce their imprescriptible right to a sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean,” she said.
Blockade of Cuba and cause Malvinas
Another of the special communiques approved by the leaders at the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit, and as they have expressed in other instances, was “on the need to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the US Government on America to Cuba, including the application of the so-called Helms-Burton Law”.
They also approved another document on the issue of the Malvinas Islands, in which they reiterate the need for the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume, as soon as possible, negotiations aimed at finding a prompt solution to the sovereignty dispute. on the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces.
In relation to the unilateral actions of exploration and exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources that the United Kingdom has been carrying out in the disputed area, recalled the calls of the international community to “refrain from adopting decisions that imply unilateral modifications” in the situation of the Malvinas Islands, in accordance with Resolution 31/49 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which in no way contribute to reaching a definitive solution to the territorial dispute.
They also reported that the reinforcement of the military presence in the area of dispute, it violates Resolution 31/49 and “is incompatible with the policy of adherence to the search for a peaceful solution to the territorial dispute.”
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Source: RT
