Officials of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean meeting at the recent summit in Madrid, Spain expressed support for initiatives that will increase the capacity to finance projects and the EU now has a new facility for Latin America.
According to a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, the summit welcomed the creation of a new Latin America Investment Facility (LAIF) by the EU, whose main objective is to serve as a leverage to mobilize additional financing to support investment in Latin America, to aid progress in the priority areas. In the meantime, they are looking forward to the creation of the Caribbean Infrastructure Fund.
In the Madrid Declaration coming out of the May 18 summit, they addressed the global consequences of the economic and financial crisis while recognizing the need to reinforce support for vulnerable and poor people. And in that context, they recommitted themselves to work together towards a new international financial architecture, including the reform of the international financial institutions, giving increased voice and voting power to underrepresented developing and transition countries while also delivering on non-quota governance reforms.
“We also reaffirm our commitment to put in place reforms of the international regulatory and financial supervision framework, aimed at guaranteeing the stability and solvency of our financial systems,” the officials stated.
Meanwhile, they reiterated their commitment to multilateralism, mainly in the framework of the United Nations system and expressed willingness to cooperate in the reform of the United Nations, with the aim of strengthening the capacity of the UN to face the many challenges posed by the new millennium.
They acknowledged also the need to pursue the comprehensive reform of the main UN bodies, among them the General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Security Council with a view to enhancing the representativeness, transparency and effectiveness of the system, the release stated.
And looking at the recovery and reconstruction of Haiti in accordance with the priorities and fundamental needs of the people and Government, they viewed the recent natural disaster not just as opportunities to “build back better”, but also to foster overall economic and social progress, in accordance with the country’s Action Plan for National Recovery and Development. And in this context, they are looking forward to the success of the Santo Domingo Conference to be held on June 2.
Satisfaction was also expressed at the decision taken by the Heads of State and Government of Latin America and the Caribbean to create the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, as the first mandate in the Presidential Declaration of the “Latin America and the Caribbean Unity Summit” held in Cancun on February 23, 2010.
The summit expressed support also to Venezuela and Chile in their task to respectively organize the summits of the CALC and of the Rio Group on July 5, 2011 in Venezuela and in 2012 in Chile with the commitment to real progress towards consolidating the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the release stated.
