CELAC Coordinators Prepare Third Summit in Costa Rica

The National Coordinators of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) prepare the third summit of the regional bloc, scheduled for next January 28 and 29 in Costa Rica.

Representatives of the 33 member countries of the mechanism of integration, operational since December 3, 2011, also assess the report of the President Pro Tempore of Costa Rica and prepare the CELAC-China Forum in Beijing early January.

Another issue discussed in the context of this meeting is the state of relations with the European Union (EU) and the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Foundation, says a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

The program of the tenth meeting of coordinators contemplates the realization of Thursday to Saturday from a workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility regarding relations with the European bloc in that order.

During the rest of the week attendees will also dialogue about the documents and proposals to further strengthen the process of regional dialogue and conciliation in the forum.

In that sense they intend to prepare the Declaration of the Third Summit Action Plan and Special Statements to be analyzed by the foreign ministers, prior to the approval by the Heads of State and Government at the Summit in San José.

The coordinators will also examine the results of CELAC exchanges with Russia, China, India, Turkey and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Costa Rica, the first Central American country to exercise the rotating presidency of the mechanism of consultation and dialogue will give that mandate to Ecuador in January.

CELAC was founded on February 23, 2010, at the Unity Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico), and started operating after the convergence of the Rio Group and the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development.

Among the signatory states of the Declaration of Caracas (2011) are Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominica, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Suriname and Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Costa Rica.

China serves as a strategic partner of CELAC since the second summit held in Havana on January 29 this year, focused on fighting hunger, poverty and inequality in this part of the world.