The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, held a new meeting this Tuesday, 22 July, with the Ibero-American Secretary-General, Andrés Allamand, with whom he reviewed the main objectives for the Ibero-American Summit to be held in Madrid in 2026. Spain, together with SEGIB, has been preparing this meeting since taking over the Pro Tempore Secretariat in 2024, at the end of the Ibero-American summit held in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Albares, who received the Ibero-American Secretary-General at the Palace of Viana, underscored the commitment to the Summit system and to the Latin American region, highlighting the importance of promoting a “community that shares values, common objectives, human, cultural, social and economic ties, and, above all, a unique Ibero-American way of being and existing in the world".
Albares recalled the unanimous support of the Ibero-American Community for Spain's candidacy to host the 2026 Ibero-American Summit, a sign of “Spain's projection and its foreign policy with an identity of its own”, as well as Spain's weight on the current international scene, which is “the greatest in its history”.
Albares shared Spain's fundamental objective for the Summit with Allamand: to begin a new phase of reaffirming and consolidating the system and identifying new priorities, setting in motion a profound reflection with the aim of strengthening and adapting the working methods of the Ibero-American system to the current times.
In relation to cooperation, Spain intends, during the Pro Tempore Secretariat, to guide the work of the Ibero-American Cooperation Officers in three areas: one, the alignment of positions regarding shared issues such as financing for development and increasing the impact of the Ibero-American Space; two, reflection on the "Ibero-American Cooperation" system; three, the projection of "Ibero-American Cooperation" in other forums. The Fourth Four-Year Action Plan for Ibero-American Cooperation 2026-2029 will also be approved.
Other objectives are to continue making progress in the mobility of students and teachers and the recognition of degrees and qualifications, and to continue working on the international promotion of Spanish and Portuguese, our common heritage.
Timetable in preparation for the 2026 Summit
In his meeting with Allamand, Albares reviewed the upcoming milestones of the Pro Tempore Secretariat, such as the breakfast meeting of Ibero-American Ministers for Foreign Affairs to be held in New York on the occasion of the General Assembly of the United Nations in September, and the statutory meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs in November. They also reviewed the administrative aspects of the Ibero-American Summit.
Lastly, the Minister reviewed the Seville Ministers for Foreign Affairs meeting with Allamand, which was held in Seville on 1 July to coincide with the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development.
For images of the event, click
here.