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Spanish Secretary of State for Ibero-America Asserts that a “New Phase” Has Begun for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean

The Spanish Secretary of State for Ibero-America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, said today that after the recent Madrid Summit, “a new phase has begun for relations between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.” “Now we will speak of a before and after,” he said in his presentation during the Fortieth Lecture Series of the Americas, held in Lima in the framework of the 40th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).

De Laiglesia added that at the Fourth Summit of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Madrid last May, significant progress was achieved, yet there remain challenges such as “breaking the stalemate in the dialogues between Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.” “We all hope that now is the time for these three axes to establish a new type of strategic dialogue so that we may close that virtuous triangle and work to solve the problems on the global agenda,” he added.

The Spanish diplomat emphasized that the success of the Madrid Summit was the result of the development of four fundamental pillars: “The new vision of the global partnership between Europe and Latin America, the conclusion of the cycle of agreements at the sub-regional level; the broadening of bilateral relations between Europe and countries such as Mexico and Chile, and the incorporation of civil society.” De Laiglesia also highlighted that, in Madrid for the first time social representatives “reached out to governments to create a habit of participation.”

The Spanish Secretary of State underlined the new global approach developed at the Summit. That focus was “until now bi-regional, the rhetoric was more formal than real and not strategic. That dynamic was broken in its form as much as its content,” he said. “The summit addressed global issues, such as expressing solidarity with Haiti and ratifying the commitment of its Constitution, which recognizes the leadership of its people and its government in the carrying out of their process.”

De Laiglesia also highlighted that the Spanish meeting underlined “the opinion we share in Europe and Latin America on the slowness of the work of the G-20 for the constitution of a new financial architecture.”

According to the Spanish Secretary of State, another key subject was climate change, in which “though an agreement was not reached, there was agreement that the next Cancun Summit must be a success,” and he called both regions to work jointly to achieve it “in practical terms and not just in declarations.”

For her part, the OAS Director for International Affairs, Irene Klinger, asserted that the Madrid Summit “helped to strengthen cooperation between the countries of both regions and achieved important results in the areas of innovation and technology, sustainable development, social inclusion and climate change, among others.”

“We could say that this Summit marks a new phase in the relations between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the strengthening of this bi-regional partnership, on greater fluency in the existing dialogue and greater cooperation to face global problems,” she added.

The Fortieth Lecture Series of the Americas is organized by the Department of International Affairs of the OAS Secretariat for External Relations with the support of the University of San Martín de Porres in Lima and the governments of Spain, Morocco and the Republic of Korea.

A photo gallery of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org

Reference: E-220/10