MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Celac Summit: Lubetkin underscores importance of regional cooperation

“Let us concentrate on the problems we have to face,” Lubetkin stressed

Uruguay's Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin underlined in Honduras the importance of regional cooperation and unity during his message at the IX Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which he deemed the most inclusive forum in Latin America and the Caribbean, bringing together 33 states.

“We are the ones who have the institutional and political capacity and the responsibility to send clear signals in that direction,” he said.

Lubetkin insisted that existing regional mechanisms should be strengthened rather than creating new ones, citing Uruguay’s commitment to initiatives like the 2024 Food Security Plan and the Ceibal digital education program as replicable examples. “There is much more that must unite us than separate us for our region to move forward,” he also pointed out.

The South American minister also advocated for dialogue, coordination, and respect for migrants’ rights, concluding that unity, despite diversity, is essential for the region’s socioeconomic growth, especially in a context marked by common challenges such as the fight against hunger, poverty, drug trafficking, and climate change. He then hoped that migrants “are treated with dignity and respect.”

“To address many of these challenges and take advantage of opportunities to move forward, we do not need to create or generate any new mechanism, but rather take better advantage of the institutions and spaces we already have in Latin America and the Caribbean with competence and jurisdiction over the different issues where we have basic agreements,” he underscored.

“Let us concentrate on the problems we have to face, on the challenges we can face together, on the opportunities we can take advantage of, which is much more what should unite us than separate us for our region to advance as I think we all wish,” he said.

“We need to maintain this continent in peace, with socio-economic growth, facing [to address] the old and new problems in a world that has more questions than answers and is changing dramatically,” the Uruguayan dignitary also noted.