Ibero-American summit to become biennial

October 19, 2013 | By hromedia | Reply More

Oct 19, – PANAMA CITY — The once-storied Iberoamerican Summit will now be held every two years rather than annually. A working group headed by former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos made the recommendation at this year’s summit in Panama City, which opened late Friday and continues Saturday. The summit bringing together Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American leaders has suffered failing attendance in recent years. The current gathering drew only about half of the region’s leaders.

The Ibero-American summit of heads of state from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries will meet every two years, instead of annually, leaders gathered at this year’s event announced Saturday.

The switch from an annual to a biennial schedule will go into effect after the 2014 summit to be held in Mexico’s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.

The leaders also agreed to adjust the quotas of member states, so contributions to the group are more balanced, a decision that reflects the new economic realities of the European members, such as Spain, and the growth of Latin American members, such as Brazil.

Both decisions will be contained in the summit’s final declaration, already approved by the participating foreign ministers and expected to be signed later Saturday by the heads of state gathering at the 23rd summit in Panama’s capital city.

This year’s summit theme, “The political, economic, social and cultural role of the Ibero-American Community within the new global context,” offers the framework for discussions on “the socio-economic development of the countries, as well as the renovation of this mechanism for political dialogue and cooperation talks,” organizers said on the official summit website.

Press journalist for HRO media – Debi Campillos, contributed to this report.