ALBA-TCP Urges Celac-EU Summit Respect Biregional Partnership

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) called Wednesday for a Third Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac)-European Union (EU) that promotes respect, inclusion, and bi-regional partnership.

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"The ALBA-TCP Member States consider it fundamental that the Summit promote a transparent, respectful, participatory, and plural debate that identifies solutions to collectively face the challenges of both regions and contributes to the strengthening of a true bi-regional strategic partnership," ALBA-TCP said in a communiqué.

According to the statement released through the alliance's official Twitter account, the 10 ALBA member countries hope that the summit, to be held on July 17 and 18 in Brussels, Belgium, will duly address the needs of the region's populations and contribute to the "promotion of their legitimate aspirations for development."

They hope that the meeting can address issues such as "post-pandemic economic recovery, financing for development, the fight against climate change, food security, renewable energy, and other topics of common interest."

Likewise, ALBA-TCP ratifies that multilateralism is the instrument to face the different challenges of the world "and should not be used as a space to attack the sovereign States of CELAC."

It also ratifies its commitment to the strengthening of a true regional integration led by CELAC and with the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

The regional body also urged the Celac-EU summit to condemn "unequivocally the unilateral coercive measures illegally applied against some countries in the region." In this regard, it called for "condemning the unfounded inclusion of Cuba in the list of states that allegedly sponsor international terrorism."

The ten ALBA members are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.

On Monday and Tuesday next week, European, Latin American, and Caribbean leaders will seek closer relations after almost a decade of an absence of dialogue at the highest bi-regional political level. The meeting will be held under the theme "Renewing the bi-regional partnership to strengthen peace and sustainable development."