The 6th Summit of Heads of State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, held this Saturday in Mexico, approved six documents, by the presidents and representatives of 31 member countries of this organization, in favor of health protection, defense of the sovereignty of the peoples amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the creation of funds in order to face climate change.
In a press conference after the closing of the event, the Mexican Chancellor, Marcelo Ebrard, specified that the «Declaration of Mexico» consists of 44 numerals, each one referring to a topic of interest, including the adoption of several special declarations that require putting an end to the blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba.
Regarding the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the Declaration of Mexico proposes the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines, as well as the need to deliver them to countries in the region that have not received them or lack the resources have access to them.
After the closing of the meeting of presidents, Ebrard, accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, commented at a press conference with the media and communication agencies on the unanimous approval of the health self-sufficiency plan presented at the summit, a topic on which they stressed the need to jointly acquire anti-Covid-19 supplies, in order to ensure equitable access to them for all countries in the region.
In this sense, Chancellor Ebrard announced that a common agreement will be sought with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, to ensure access to supplies and vaccines, and for this institution to recognize the inequality that exists within the region:
«We are going towards a common position with the IMF to declare the institution’s resources as unequal, we ask for equitable access”, he stressed.
Finally, Bárcena affirmed that there are short and long-term plans and one of the main ones is to develop an efficient mechanism for the unified purchase of vaccines.
He pointed out that another short-term plan is to be able to seat together the six level four entities «and for us to be able to have mutual recognition, while a next plan is the line of clinical trials, with sponsors, universities and laboratories, to make a collective network and have a joint capacity abroad”, he stressed.
