Top Dominican diplomat says LatAm, Caribbean should speak as one

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic Foreign minister AndrésNavarro on Wednesday called on the Community of Latin American and CaribbeanStates (CELAC) to work together to forge "one sole voice in the Americas"to deal effectively with their problems.

Navarro spoke to open CELAC’s 17th Meeting ofNational Coordinators in the Sheraton Hotel prior to the 10thMeeting of Foreign Ministers. The events include work plans at the technicallevel during Dominican Republic’s Pro Tempore Presidency of the regional organization,and discuss its progress and its future.

"It’s time to reflect together on the future of ourcommunity on the five years of its existence and, above all, how we cancontinue to maintain our joint positions in the midst of the diversity thatcharacterizes our sister nations," Navarro said.

He said many efforts have been carried out in thehemisphere over decades to achieve integration, after the search for commonsolutions to problems such as extreme poverty, food security, migration andgender issues, among others. "That’s why we need to reach agreements inthis meeting that reflect our common interests, to help us advance themomentous issues that drive this mechanism of Latin America’s and the Caribbean’spolitical, economic, social and cultural integration."

Event

CELAC’s national coordinators gather at the Sheraton hotel sinceWednesday to meet and approve the PPT CELAC-RD agenda and assess its developmentlevel over its first five years since founded as a mechanism for integration,cooperation and political dialogue.