The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday before the Organization of American States (OAS) that Spain wants to be a “reliable and stable ally” for Latin American countries within the EU and reiterated that the EU-CELAC Summit, to be held in July within the framework of the Spanish Presidency, is “a historic opportunity to strengthen relations between the two regions”.
Albares pronounced these words at the OAS headquarters in Washington, where he has been since Wednesday accompanying the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who will be received today by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, at the White House.
According to Albares, whose words were reported by the Efe agency, Spain is “a country with a double soul” European and Latin American and “Spain and Latin America are united by strong feelings of community and a community of shared objectives”. For this reason, he assured, “Spain’s will is to be a reliable and stable ally for the region”.
In this sense, Albares stated that the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will begin on July 1, will try to “push harder” for the conclusion of the pending trade agreements between the European Union and Mexico, Chile and Mercosur, because they are “fundamental for a future of shared prosperity”.
He also recalled that next July 17 and 18 will be held in Brussels the Summit between the leaders of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the first since 2015, which will be “a historic opportunity to strengthen relations between the two regions” and to develop a shared investment agenda in strategic sectors, such as digital transformation and the environment.
According to the minister, “Spain’s commitment is that the EU-CELAC Summit opens the door to political dialogue” between the two regions to face global challenges together at a “time of great tension and uncertainties” due to the covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have “a fundamental role to play in the multilateral order” and in the defense of democracy, he said. “Now is the time to define our strategy as we look to the future, which has already begun to change,” he added.
Migration Agreement
José Manuel Albares also reiterated Spain’s support for “safe, orderly migration that respects human rights” in the context of the current migration crisis in the Americas. In this sense, the minister declared to the Efe news agency, pending the finalization of the details of the agreement reached with the United States to promote regular and safe migration, that “Spain will always be in solidarity with the countries of Central America and Latin America with respect to those people who need asylum and refuge”. Likewise, he assured that the circular migration program with the countries of the region, which Spain wishes to promote within the framework of the agreement with the United States, must “provide a response to Spanish employers who request workers from these countries”.
Spain, the United States, Canada, Mexico and Colombia, among other countries, have been working for a few days now, to move forward with a migration agreement that will create the appropriate mechanisms to order migratory flows, especially after the US lifted this very week the so-called Title 42, a decree of the Presidency of Donald Trump to restrict the entry of people in the context of COVID-19, which, inevitably, will increase migratory pressure on the United States.
Spain has expressed its support for the US decision to create migrant management centers in Guatemala and Colombia, where the asylum applications of these people will be studied. Some of these migrants will be sent to Spain and Canada, but at the moment the quota that will arrive in our country through this procedure is not known. “The details in this regard will be given by the Ministry of the Interior, which together with the Ministry of Inclusion are doing the analysis and study,” Albares stated. “These agreements demonstrate a shared will with the United States for migration to be an orderly, safe and above all humane migration and with full respect for human rights,” he added
Albares made these statements after meeting with the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Bob Menéndez, with whom he addressed, among other issues, “the excellent and deep relations between Spain and the United States,” the migration pact and the objectives of “the Spanish Presidency of the EU, focusing on the EU-CELAC Summit,” as the minister explained via Twitter.
The minister also held a meeting yesterday with the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ilan Goldfajn, with whom he addressed “the challenges and opportunities in the Latin American and Caribbean region and the importance of multilateralism and international cooperation to address them”, and participated in a breakfast organized by the US Chamber of Commerce, where he discussed the prospects for greater transatlantic and bilateral coordination and the importance of closer cooperation on sustainability and digital transition.
