Spain wants the 2026 Ibero-American Summit to approve the Cooperation Plan in the region

The Diplomat The Spanish Government wants the XXX Ibero-American Summit to be held in our country in 2026 to approve the Four-Year Action Plan for Ibero-American Cooperation 2026-2029 to reinforce the relevance of the Ibero-American System of Nations and the voice in the world of this region. This is stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement released yesterday, in which it recalls that Spain will be the host for the fourth time of the Summit that brings together the heads of State and Government of 22 countries on both sides of the Atlantic. The 2026 event will take place 35 years after the first Ibero-American Summit, which took place in Guadalajara (Mexico) in 1991, thanks mainly to the support of the Spanish and Mexican governments, and which, a year later, was held in Madrid, coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus' ships in America. Since then, Spain has hosted the Summit on two other occasions: in 2005 in Salamanca and in 2012 in Cadiz, in addition to being the permanent headquarters of the Ibero-American General Secretariat. So far, it has not been revealed in which Spanish city the 2026 meeting will take place. In its statement, the department headed by José Manuel Albares, states that with the choice of Spain "our country's commitment to the Ibero-American project is recognized, as well as the Government's commitment to strengthening this forum for dialogue, political agreement and cooperation, unique in the world due to its nature and scope." The Foreign Ministry recalls that, once the Summit scheduled for November 14 and 15 of this year 2024 in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca ends, Spain will assume the Pro Tempore Secretariat and during the 2025-2026 biennium will coordinate, together with the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), the calendar of meetings and encounters in which representatives of the countries of the Member States and civil society participate. The statement notes that the Government of Spain intends to identify, in permanent contact with the SEGIB and with the States that make up the Ibero-American space, “priority areas of action for this key period, of reaffirmation of the value of the Ibero-American System of Nations.” Specifically, it highlights that at the 2026 Summit, the Four-Year Action Plan for Ibero-American Cooperation 2026-2029 must be approved, “which will give the meeting special relevance, as cooperation is the cornerstone of this system, which with its specific initiatives has a direct and positive impact on the citizens of the region.” Further on, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Ibero-America and the Caribbean occupy a very prominent place in Spanish foreign policy. “We are united by history, language, close economic and cultural ties, and an unbreakable human bond with more than one and a half million Spanish citizens living in Latin America, and the almost two million Latin American citizens living in Spain,” it stresses. The statement adds that these ties are also reflected in our presence in the region, in the 22 resident embassies, 33 consulates, 14 cultural centres and 3 training centres that Spain maintains or in the more than three decades of presence of Spanish cooperation in Latin America. “Spain - concludes Foreign Affairs - always presents itself to the international community by highlighting its dual nature, European and Latin American. For this reason, during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Spain placed the region at the centre of the European agenda, as evidenced by the successful EU-CELAC Summit in July last year, during which a Roadmap, the Digital Alliance and the Global Gateway Investment Agenda were adopted.”

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