The Diplomat
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares met this Thursday, February 19, with the Ibero-American ambassadors accredited to Spain to outline the objectives of the Madrid Summit, which will take place on November 4 and 5 under the theme: “Ibero-America. Together we build our Community. Together we project it into the future and into the world.”
At the meeting, held at the Ministry headquarters in the Palacio de Viana in Madrid, and also attended by the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, Albares told the ambassadors that, in the face of a challenging and complex international context, the Ibero-American Community functions as “a forum for political dialogue and cooperation in which what unites us outweighs our differences.”
He also explained that the Spanish pro tempore secretariat of the Summit has set itself the objective of achieving tangible results, in line with the principles of the Seville Declaration, adopted in July 2025 during the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4).
Albares also highlighted that one of the objectives of the Madrid Summit is to reach out to other regions, especially the Caribbean, and reported that the Spanish pro tempore secretariat has already approved three position papers: one on development metrics, one on Haiti, and one on the election of the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, advocating that the candidate be a national of Latin America or the Caribbean.
The minister also took the opportunity to reiterate Spain’s desire to promote Spanish-Portuguese bilingualism, “a distinctive characteristic of Ibero-America that constitutes a shared heritage.”