The countdown begins to the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit, which will be held in Santo Domingo on March 24 and 25, and which we welcome with renewed enthusiasm. Those among us on this side of the Atlantic are taking advantage of this new naming of the great Ibero-American family to take a closer look at Latin America and the Caribbean.

The experience of more than thirty years of Ibero-American summits allows us to have a unique instrument for political dialogue, agreement and cooperation between the 22 countries that make up this community. An irreplaceable instrument for the Ibero-American response to the great challenges shared by both shores of the Atlantic.

Ibero-America is the reason for personal ties, values, agreements and cooperation at all levels, with Europe as a natural ally.

From July 1, we have a new opportunity to give this relationship a new boost. Spain takes over the Spanish Presidency of the EU and will make the most of its potential to further strengthen ties, bind them and seal them for the sake of lasting mutually beneficial relations.

I am convinced that Latin America and the Caribbean is the most Eurocompatible region on the planet. Together we have an excellent platform for external action from which we can contribute our experiences, achievements and proposals to the world, cooperating with different actors.

What unites us are our common principles and values, democracy, rule of law, human rights, legal security and freedoms. All of this is summed up in the motto with which the current Pro Tempore presidency of the Dominican Republic gathers us in Santo Domingo: “Together for a just and sustainable Ibero-America” ​​to which Spain also wants to add Europe.

Barely a fortnight after Spain took over the Spanish Presidency of the EU, Brussels will host a summit meeting of the European Union and CELAC, to which we must come with goals aimed at the interests, opportunities and challenges we share. The Ibero-American Summit is an excellent space to start defining and adapting them.

The summit in Santo Domingo allows us to take the lead with concrete actions. Some of them are mandatory, like those mentioned in the Ibero-American Environmental Charter where we work to provide solutions in the present that future generations can benefit from.

The Ibero-American Charter of Principles and Rights in Digital Environments that we have promoted to promote inclusion, access to education, culture and health for all our citizens is also of great importance.

But we also have other issues of extreme urgency, such as what we have called “The Critical Path to Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Food Security in Ibero-America,” an initiative that contains a valuable message for the international community about the role that Ibero-America can and should play in times of crisis and price and supply uncertainty.

These are issues for which Spain will spare no expense.

Our shared ideals are a valuable instrument for bringing the voice of Latin America to the heart of Europe. We do it in Spanish and Portuguese, from “Iberofonia”, which will also emerge strengthened from this Ibero-American Summit thanks to the commitment of Spain, together with Portugal, Brazil and Paraguay, and all other Ibero-American countries, to give a new impetus to bilingualism Spanish Portuguese . And also valuing the Spanish language, a heritage shared by hundreds of millions of people around the world.

At the end of this Ibero-American summit, the International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE) will begin. It is an opportunity offered by Arequipa (Peru) to Cádiz, which Spain will use to show its resolute commitment to the care, promotion and unity of the Spanish language. Spanish, which will be heard more strongly in Europe under our presidency.

Spain will project that reality that the Ibero-American summit in Santo Domingo will expose to the world, and which part of Europe is still not sufficiently aware of. We will once again appeal to our partners on the continent to look Latin America in the face. With a constructive, exciting, fraternal, permanent view that allows us to see the horizon of shared prosperity with a call to permanence that our peoples benefit from. (OR)