President David Granger on Wednesday participated in the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Ecuador.

The Summit was held under the theme “Reduction of inequalities and Sustainable Development of the region”. CELAC was created on December 3, 2011, in Caracas, Venezuela.

THE Fourth Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), is expected to help strengthen the regional bloc, according to Cuba’s Ambassador to Guyana, Julio César González Marchante.

President Granger is representing Guyana at the three-day event, which ends tomorrow.

Among its objectives, the Cuban envoy said, is “to strengthen political dialogue between States and translate, through political cooperation, our principles and values in consensus.”
The raison d’être, he said, is that “the Region requires an instance of political agreement that strengthens its international position, and could result in prompt and effective actions that promote Latin American and Caribbean interests against the new issues on the international agenda.”

The meeting, González Marchante said, has seen the gathering of the Heads of State and Foreign Ministers of CELAC’s 33 member countries to address issues of regional interest.
Together, they will evaluate the eradication of poverty and inequality reduction, issues on which there was a planning proposed by Ecuador when it took up the pro témpore presidency at the summit held in Costa Rica.

“The approved document,” Ambassador Marchante said, “covers five areas of work in addition to the eradication of extreme poverty and inequality; it includes others such as education, science and technology, the fight against climate change and development financing.
“It is also expected to seek ways for political cooperation to continue growing stronger, particularly in international organisations. These debates were evident in the common position that the block took to the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in France.”
Adding that absolute consensus was expected to be achieved for a regional agenda, the envoy noted that the challenge of the summit would be to preserve and further strengthen the CELAC. It was reported that in preliminary meetings the importance of the block for the Region was ratified.

He said on the issue of migration, there would be a statement rejecting the attempts of some countries to establish policies of selection of migrants according to their country of origin, this being related to the Cuban Adjustment Act, US legislation that favours citizens of the Caribbean island who seek shelter in the northern nation.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) emerged as a regional integration mechanism. Since its launch in 2011, the block has contributed to strengthening the dialogue between countries of the Region on issues such as social development, education, nuclear disarmament, family agriculture, culture, finance, energy and environment.

CELAC member countries are: Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; The Dominican Republic; Dominica; Ecuador; El Salvador; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; St. Lucia; Saint Kitts and Nevis; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Uruguay; and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.