President Luis Lacalle Pou was received by his American counterpart, Joe Bidenthis Friday at the White House with leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss greater and better trade integration and address migration issues, in an attempt to strengthen ties in the region to address China.
Leaders from Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru attended the meeting, as well as high-ranking representatives from Mexico and Panama.
Biden began the inaugural summit of Leaders of the Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity (APEP) with a message of hope despite the enormous foreign policy challenges posed by the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and Ukraine’s attempt to repel the Russian invaders.
The president of USA He said the goal is to “harness the incredible economic potential of the Americas and make the Western Hemisphere the most economically competitive region in the world,” drawing a sharp contrast to China’s practices.
“We want to ensure that our closest neighbors know that they can choose between debt trap diplomacy and transparent, high-quality approaches to infrastructure and interdevelopment,” declared the Democrat. “All we have to do is continue to fulfill the positive vision we all share for a region that is safe, prosperous and democratic,” he added, according to Reuters.
“I have regained optimism in our relationship with the USA, We were a little left out, perhaps we complained more. It is not begging for things, it is that Uruguay has a lot to give to the world,” Lacalle Pou reflected on Thursday at the Responsible Investment Forum co-organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
At that event, several countries insisted that this Friday’s summit with Joe Biden within the framework of the APEP do not remain in the dark and they asked for “specific projects” that lead to results.
In this regard, the president Luis Lacalle Pou sent a clear message in the IDB forum. “What we talked about with other leaders and with President Biden is that the body, the elbow, must be taken care of when it is healthy, not when it is broken. Because when it is broken, it must be fixed, and it no longer remains the same. So , Uruguay It is a country to bet on, where those who arrive stay,” he explained.
This Friday’s summit in Washington follows a meeting of Western Hemisphere leaders held last year in Los Angeles with a similar theme and is part of a broader effort to strengthen regional economic ties and reduce the influence of China in the region.
At the “Summit of the Americas” held in Los Angeles last year, Biden signed a non-binding declaration in which 20 countries in the region agreed on a series of measures to address the migration crisis.
In recent years, a record number of migrants have crossed the US-Mexico border illegally, with hundreds of thousands of people heading north after passing through a dangerous jungle region known as the Darien Gap, between Colombia and Panama.
Source: Ambito
