Eduardo González
Madrid will host the OECD-Latin America and the Caribbean Ministerial Dialogue on July 1, as Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced on Thursday during his participation in the Ministerial Council of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
“Spain is firmly committed to the OECD and its Regional Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean as a key tool based on dialogue and cooperation, which allows us to find shared solutions to global challenges in a very complex context,” Albares stated in a video message released on the organization’s website to mark the tenth anniversary of the Regional Programme.
“Over these ten years, the OECD Regional Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean has become a fundamental forum for aligning positions, strengthening capacities, and advancing key reforms,” and has allowed “more and more countries in the region to move closer to international standards, reinforcing their integration into a community committed to sustainable development, inclusion, and good governance,” he continued.
“Spain will continue working towards an OECD that is more open to the region, especially in a global context of profound transformations, because only through cooperation and multilateralism can we provide effective responses and protect our citizens,” Albares added.
For this reason, he noted, “Madrid will host the ministerial dialogue between the OECD and Latin America and the Caribbean on July 1, a forum to discuss the future of this collaboration, consolidate progress, and explore new avenues for working together.” Albares met this Thursday in Paris with OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann to finalize preparations for the Madrid meeting, as he posted on social media.
According to the organization itself, the OECD-LAC Regional Programme, in collaboration with the Spanish Government, will bring together the Foreign Ministers of OECD member countries and Latin America and the Caribbean on July 1st to promote a new phase in cooperation between the two parties, especially following the accession of Argentina, Brazil, and Peru to the OECD, which will significantly increase the organization’s Latin American dimension.
The program for the Madrid meeting (which will coincide with the upcoming Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for early November of this year and to be held in the Spanish capital) includes topics such as revitalizing “a strategic and mutually beneficial alliance in the new geopolitical context,” seeking “a foreseeable and desirable future” for both parties, and strengthening the EU-LAC partnership.
Separately, and as the closing event of the meeting, a special session of the Group of Friends of Spain at the OECD is planned to strengthen the role of Spanish as an effective working language within the organization, reinforcing its presence in publications, digital platforms, interpretation, internal training, and institutional activities. The meeting will address a shared assessment of the current state of the Spanish language, promote coordinated actions, and seek to agree on a roadmap for more ambitious and sustained cooperation, in line with the growing ties between the OECD and Latin America.
