The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, received yesterday in Madrid her Honduran counterpart, Lisandro Rosales, with whom she discussed bilateral diplomatic collaboration, access to COVID-19 vaccines, the country’s recovery plan after the tropical storms, the celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence, labor migration regulation between the two countries and Spain’s role in Central America, among other issues.
The meeting took place within the framework of the first Meeting of the Spain-Honduras Political Consultation Mechanism, foreseen by the Memorandum of Understanding between both ministries, and the trip made this week by Lisandro Rosales to Spain together with two other members of the Honduran Government, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Olvin Villalobos; and the Minister General Coordinator of Government, Carlos Madero.
During the meeting, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, González Laya and Rosales discussed the measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the progress of the respective vaccination programs. They also stressed the importance of equitable access to vaccines through international cooperation mechanisms and the Minister recalled Spain’s commitment to donate vaccines to the Latin American region, announced during the XXVII Ibero-American Summit.
Both ministers referred to the opportunity presented by the celebration, in 2021, of the Bicentenary of the Independence of Honduras, which coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Esquipulas Peace Accords and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Central American Integration System (SICA), to which Spain contributes through the Spain-SICA Fund.
The Honduran delegation presented the progress of the Plan for the Reconstruction and Sustainable Development of Honduras, a planning instrument designed to replace the losses caused by tropical storms Eta and Iota, and the minister thanked Spain for its support “from the very beginning” for this plan. Precisely, the three Honduran ministers took advantage of their stay in Madrid to present, last Thursday, the opportunities offered by this plan to Spanish companies in an event organized by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), the Secretary of State for Trade (through ICEX) and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Embassy of Honduras in Madrid. In the area of reconstruction, Spain has also made available to Honduras an important FONPRODE credit line that could finance a series of concrete projects, particularly in areas in which Spain has extensive experience, such as water and sanitation or digital education.
On the other hand, the two ministers expressed their commitment to the effective management of a safe, orderly and regular migration, with special attention to the Honduran community in Spain, and signed, in the margins of the meeting, the agreement between Spain and Honduras regarding the regulation and management of labor migration flows, which was authorized last Tuesday by the Council of Ministers and which aims to regulate in an orderly and coherent manner the existing labor migration flows between the two States, as well as to deepen the general framework of cooperation and friendship between the two countries and prevent irregular migration.
Likewise, González Laya and Rosales signed a Memorandum of Understanding of cooperation between both diplomatic schools and acknowledged the progress in the negotiation of an agreement on reciprocal recognition and exchange of driving licenses and permits. Foreign Minister Rosales stressed that the Government of Honduras will expand consular and protection services to Hondurans in Spain, with the opening of the Consulate General of Honduras in Valencia, between June and July 2021.
Regarding the regional and global agenda, the foreign ministers highlighted the importance of the upcoming Spain-SICA Summit, scheduled for June 10 in San José, Costa Rica, as well as the celebration, in the margins of this summit and at the proposal of Spain, of an event in solidarity with the countries of the Regional Integral Mechanism for Protection and Solutions (MIRPS, an initiative launched in 2017 by Mexico and Central America to help refugees in the region). Finally, both ministers assessed the strategic relations between the EU and Central America, the importance of the ratification of the Association Agreement and the impact of the provisional application of its trade pillar.
