During his intervention in the 27th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government Andorra 2020, held under the motto “Innovation for Sustainable Development - 2030 Goals. Ibero-America faces Coronavirus challenge”, President Alberto Fernández called on the countries of the region to act “jointly in solidarity” in order to “guarantee equitable production and distribution of vaccines,” and to find innovative mechanisms to facilitate access to external financing for middle-income countries.
“Let us be the united, solidary and organized leaders of a civilization that is rebuilding to include everyone,” the President stated, adding that “the risk is for the world to go into incomplete, unequitable and unsustainable recovery.”
During his virtual address from the Presidential Residence in Olivos, joined by Foreign Minister Felipe Solá, Fernández stressed that “it is essential to deepen technology transfer and international financial cooperation, without discrimination.”
He thanked for the “valuable support” of the delegations that endorsed the special document presented by Argentina and Spain on “Access to external financing to face Covid-19”, which is aimed to promote the use of all tools available to help our countries be in better financial conditions to deal with this exceptional situation.
He also noted that “it is imperative” to extend debt relief initiatives to middle-income countries that are highly vulnerable “and to promote new payment dates and more flexible interest rates,” and lauded Pope Francis’ appeal for “the most vulnerable countries not to be excluded from this redistribution that will provide liquidity to the global economic scenario.”
With regard to the Malvinas Islands, the President thanked for the unanimous support for the call for resumption of bilateral negotiations between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom.
The 30th anniversary Summit was opened by the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra, Xavier Espot and the Ibero-American Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan, followed by an address by UN Secretary General António Guterres.
The Summit was also attended by King Felipe VI and the Presidents of Spain, Pedro Sánchez; Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa; Bolivia, Luis Arce; Chile, Sebastián Piñera; Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel; and Colombia, Iván Duque, among others.
