President Alberto Fernandezhead of the regional bloc of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), made progress this Tuesday in a meeting with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, on different lines of cooperation and humanitarian assistance, in the fight against global warming and in the “decolonization processes centered on the Malvinas Question”in relation to the islands usurped by the United Kingdom in 1833.
The visit to that country of the Lesser Antilles, the last stop on the international tour carried out last week by the Argentine Head of State, began yesterday afternoon and lasted until 6:30 p.m. today, at which time the delegation He undertook the trip back to Buenos Aires.
The meeting took place in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, between 10:41 and 12:20 (Argentina time), as part of the last leg of the international tour that included visits to the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.
According to official sources, at the meeting of the leaders progress was made on “different lines of cooperation and the common problems that both countries have” were also discussed.
An official statement specified that the “discussion agenda” included “issues such as environmental challenges, cooperation and humanitarian assistance, and decolonization processes centered on the Malvinas Question,” in relation to Argentina’s claim to sovereignty.
Also, “looks were exchanged on the multilateralismthe need for a new international financial architecture and the strengthening of dialogue channels in Latin America and the Caribbean“.
In this sense, Fernández thanked Mottley for the support received from Barbados and other Caribbean countries in the negotiations that Argentina is carrying out with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)..
Another topic they discussed was collaboration in the fight against pandemic of coronavirus, in which context Argentina donated 42,000 vaccines to various countries of the Eastern Caribbean.
They also analyzed the development of various cooperation projects that have already been implemented on the island in agricultural, educational, environmental, phytosanitary, Spanish language teaching, public health and sports exchange matters.
They also referred to the establishment of the Fund for Climate Adaptation and Comprehensive Response to Disasters of CELAC and, on this point, they highlighted the ongoing collaboration between the White Helmets and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.
During the meeting -in which Fernández was accompanied by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabandié; the spokeswoman for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti; the adviser Cecilia Nicolini and the governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras-, Fernández thanked Mottley for the consensus reached in CELAC regarding the Malvinas Question.
In turn, he welcomed the decision of the Caribbean country that abandoned the monarchy and became the youngest Republic in the world.to adopt, in November last year, the form of Republicfor which the queen is no longer the head of state and the figure of the Governor General was replaced by that of the President, with a mandate that lasts 4 years and is elected by parliament.
Attending the audience for Barbados were the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Jerome Walcott; the Minister of the Environment and National Beautification, Adrián Forde; the ambassadors of Barbados to Brazil and concurrent to Argentina, Tonika Sealy-Thompson, and of Climate Change, Law of the Sea and Small Island Developing States, Elizabeth Thompson; and the permanent secretaries of the Office of the Prime Minister, Allies Jordan, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Simone Rudder.
???? | President @alferdez arrived in Barbados. #Presidential Tour
Tomorrow he will meet with the prime minister, @miaamormottleyand with representatives of the countries that make up the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (@oecscommission).https://t.co/q7Ue6YhmEI pic.twitter.com/bknJvc5siD
– Pink House (@CasaRosada) February 7, 2022
Mottleythe first woman to reach that position on the Caribbean island in 2018 and who was re-elected last month with a resounding victory, supported Argentina to occupy the pro tempore presidency of CELACa position that Fernández assumed last January 7 with the commitment to deal with the priorities of the nations that make up the Lesser Antilles.
“Sometimes we don’t look at the Caribbean or the Caribbean at us because they speak the language of the north, but they have the problems of the south,” the Argentine president told the prime minister of Barbados, according to official sources.
lines of cooperation
Regarding the lines of cooperation in which progress was made in the meeting, the sources specified that they have to do with “Issues of the Conicet, carry out a greater exchange of tourism or even think about Aerolineas Argentinas flights“.
On the other hand, Fernandez “is trying to create a food bank for catastrophes in which Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, which are the three largest producers, fundamentally participate.”
At the meeting, The prime minister placed “a lot of emphasis on the gender struggles that are taking place in the two countries and being creditors in climate change issues”.
Barbados produces barely 0.001 percent of the world’s carbon emissions and yet one of those that suffers the greatest consequences from hurricanes as well as from the different rises in the oceans, according to the spokespersons.
Argentina, for its part, produces 0.8 percent and also suffers the consequences: “We see it in the crises regarding fire and floods,” the sources pointed out.
In turn, President Fernández proposed “working on the production of wheat resistant to different climatic changes that Argentina has developed and has the patent of the national State and that could help Barbados.”
The personality of Pope Francis was also present at the talk: Mottley said that, although he is not a believer, he considers him “one of the great moral and ethical leaders in the world”, something in which the Argentine president agreed..
“You have to understand that the great crisis that the world is suffering is a moral and ethical crisis and with the pandemic it became clear why we are survivors,” Fernández said.
Finally, both leaders raised the “possibility of exchanging debt for environmental assets” and spoke of the “injustice in negotiating debt within the International Monetary Fund when countries that invest a lot and have a fiscal deficit because they invest a lot in state policies they demand other types of policies”.
“This is the beginning of a great friendship,” Mottley said at the end of the meeting, in which both leaders agreed “to continue working together and forge a good friendship“.
Then the Argentine president led a meeting at the same venue with representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia, countries that make up the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Finally, after lunch and a guided tour by Mottley herself to learn about the initiatives promoted by Barbados on climate change prevention, the Argentine delegation undertook the return trip to the country, hoping to arrive at the airport in the early hours of Wednesday. Ezeiza.
