Ibero-American, Caribbean Nations To Work with China on Health and Poverty To Defeat Pandemic

July 27, 2020 (EIRNS)—The Joint Declaration agreed on at the July 22 COVID-19 teleconference among 13 foreign relations ministers of Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is emphatic: the pandemic is a universal threat, and must be met by cooperation between all nations in order to confront the disease, build a world health community, and restore economic and social development by eradicating poverty. Geopolitics be damned.

The statement’s central premise, available on the Mexican Foreign Ministry website, is stated in the first of its seven points: “We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is a common challenge for all humanity...” The six points which follow all flow from that premise:

(2) Global access must be guaranteed to medications, vaccines and medical equipment, as called for in two cited UN resolutions. “We also recognize the leadership of World Health Organization in coordinating the global response to COVID-19...”

(3) Recognizing the importance of world public health to world peace and development, “we reaffirm our commitment to build a world health community which includes China and the LAC countries.”

(4) “...We agree to strengthen our cooperation to combat the epidemic and restore economic and social development. We reaffirm that the eradication of poverty is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development...”

(5 & 6) An affirmation of the spirit of friendship and cooperation with which China and the nations of the region have worked together to face the pandemic, “actively defending China,” with the commitment to intensify that cooperation; and, lastly,

(7) “We agree to deepen the post-pandemic cooperation between the LAC countries and China,” including through greater bilateral and multilateral practical cooperation in the areas of public health and eradicating poverty.

The statement was issued in the name of “the Foreign Ministers of the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and China,” as represented by the 13 signatories from the region: Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.