Albares explains the “roadmap” for the Madrid Ibero-American Summit to the autonomous communities

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, received representatives of the autonomous communities at the Ministry's headquarters this Tuesday. He explained the "roadmap" leading up to the 30th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Madrid on November 4 and 5, 2026. According to the Ministry in a press release, with this meeting the minister fulfills "his parliamentary commitment to discuss the organization of the Ibero-American Summit (...) with the representatives of the autonomous communities." During the meeting, Albares outlined the "roadmap" that Spain will develop throughout 2025 and 2026 within the framework of the Ibero-American Conference, including the ministerial meetings, forums, and gatherings from which the initiatives that will subsequently be presented to the Summit will emerge. According to the minister, the planned schedule includes meetings in different parts of Spain, and he therefore requested the collaboration and support of regional representatives "so that success will be reflected in the outcome of the Summit." The Summit will include more than 25 ministerial meetings, forums, and gatherings in different cities across Spain, as the minister explained on September 25 during a meeting in New York with the foreign ministers of the Ibero-American countries. During the two-day Summit, the leaders of the 22 countries that make up the Ibero-American Community will address some of the main shared challenges, such as sustainable growth, digitalization, energy security, and educational and cultural cooperation. Likewise, Albares announced that same day that Spain will propose the creation of an Ibero-American Disaster Response Fund, the recognition of university degrees, and closer ties with other countries and regions such as India and the English-speaking Caribbean, giving a new role to the observer countries of the Ibero-American Conference. Separately, Spain will work with its Ibero-American partners to approve the Four-Year Plan for Ibero-American Cooperation (PACCI 2026-2030) with a more strategic and inclusive approach. The Ibero-American Summits, held biannually since 1991, bring together the heads of state and government of the 22 Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. To date, Spain has hosted three Ibero-American Summits. Madrid hosted the second in July 1992, right in the middle of the fifth centenary of the Discovery of America. Salamanca held the fifteenth in October 2005, and Cádiz hosted the twenty-second in November 2012, coinciding with the bicentennial of the 1812 Constitution, drafted in that city. The previous summit, held in Cuenca, Ecuador, in mid-November 2024, was notable, above all, for the absence of all the region's presidents, with the exception of the host, Ecuadorian Daniel Noboa. As heads of state or government, only the Europeans attended: Felipe VI of Spain, the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Head of Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot. The King was accompanied by José Manuel Albares, who participated as the highest representative of the government after President Pedro Sánchez canceled his attendance to closely monitor the DANA crisis in Valencia.

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