Santo Domingo, (EFE) future.
At the arrivals on Tuesday of the Portuguese presidents, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, today they were joined by the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the heads of state of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and of Chile, Gabriel boric.
In the next few hours, the rest of the participants will arrive, a total of fourteen presidents and two vice presidents, in a city that is getting ready for this great event.
The foreign minister opens the meetings
Everything is already prepared in Santo Domingo to start this XXVIII Ibero-American Summit, very special since it is the first to be held entirely in person since 2018, due to the pandemic.
This moment is reached after years of preparatory meetings, a total of thirteen, on Foreign Relations, Economy, Finance, Environment and Agriculture, the results of which will be presented at the meeting.
Before the regional meeting at the highest level is officially inaugurated on Friday night at the Ozama Fortress and the dinner for the leaders takes place, tomorrow throughout the day it will be the turn of the meeting of foreign ministers.
At this summit there are many issues on the table, focused on four axes: environment, food safety, financial architecture and digitization.
And at the center of all this is the question of equity, as reflected in the motto of this summit, “Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America”, in an attempt to curb inequalities of all kinds in the region, from social to gender through the digital divide or poverty.
Ukraine, Haiti and the European Union
But at the meeting he will also plan the difficult geopolitical situation due to the war in Ukraine and its range of repercussions, together with the critical situation in Haiti, a topic that greatly worries the neighboring Dominican host.
Latin America’s relations with the European Union (EU) will have a special role, which Spain wants to put at the center of its rotating community presidency in the second half of the year.
In the words of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, “Spain wants 2023 to be the year of Latin America in Europe and that Latin America is definitely at the heart of the European agenda with a work and financing program.”
In fact, the high representative of Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, will be present at this summit.
The company, another pillar of this summit
And prior to the summit, this Wednesday and Thursday, a thousand businessmen hold a large forum together with employers, authorities and international organizations.
Tomorrow, within the framework of this meeting, there will be a discussion with Ibero-American presidents and the presence of the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Portugal is expected.
After the businessmen deliver to the leaders their conclusions and recommendations for the summit and the Presidency of the Council of Ibero-American Businessmen (CEIB) is transferred, the King of Spain and the Dominican President, Luis Abinader, will close the forum.
All these activities are carried out amid extraordinary security measures, patents throughout Santo Domingo and where there are security forces stationed in every corner of the places where the meetings are held.
Traffic is diverted to the passage of the procession in a city where circulation is already very complicated. But it will only be a few days and in them the Dominican capital will be the center of attention of all Latin America.