Foreign Ministers Define Agenda of CELAC Summit in Ecuador

Foreign Ministers Define Agenda of CELAC Summit in Ecuador
Fecha de publicación: 
26 January 2016
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The meeting, to be held at the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations, to the north of Quito, will be opened by Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño.

Prior to the meeting of foreign ministers of the 33 nations that make up the CELAC, the heads of the quartet integrated by Costa Rica, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, and Barbados, will meet. Among the issues to be negotiated on Tuesday are the political declaration of the Fourth Summit, the Action Plan for 2016, and the special documents proposed by several countries.

Yesterday, making statements to a local television station, Patiño said that the event that brings together all the nations of the Americas, except the United States and Canada, will also address the current peace process between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.

According to the head of the Ecuadorian diplomacy, the Haitian authorities also requested that the election crisis in the Caribbean country be also discussed, after the opposition candidate Jude Celestin refused to participate in the second round scheduled for last Sunday.

The deputy foreign minister of Cuba Abelardo Moreno, considered, meanwhile, that the appointment of Ecuador should contribute to strengthen the regional bloc.

The challenge of the summit will be to further strengthen the CELAC, not only preserve it, Moreno told Prensa Latina.

According to the Cuban official, among the special statements to be submitted to the presidents for approval, of special note is a call on the US to lift the unilateral embargo imposed on Cuba for more than five decades, and to return the territory of the Guantanamo Naval Base to the Cuban State.

On the issue of migration, there will be a statement rejecting the attempts of some countries to establish policies of selection of migrants according to their country of origin, in relation to the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act, a US law that privileges Cuban citizens seeking asylum in the United States.

There will also be a proposal for the condemnation of terrorism, and the ratification of Argentina's sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, and Puerto Rico's right to independence, among other special statements.

The central theme of the 4th Summit of CELAC will be, however, the consolidation of the so-called Agenda 2020, adopted last year in Costa Rica, the five main guidelines are the eradication of extreme poverty and inequality, education, science and technology, the fight against climate change, infrastructure, and financing for development.

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