- Title: EL SALVADOR: Ibero-American summit officially inaugurates
- Date: 30th October 2008
- Summary: (W1) SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (OCTOBER 29, 2008) (REUTERS) YOUNGSTERS APPLAUDING
- Embargoed: 14th November 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: El Salvador
- Country: El Salvador
- Reuters ID: LVA1VWX1I80GG7DNV5VS31WO1WLI
- Story Text: Latin American and European leaders arrived in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, on Wednesday (October 29) to inaugurate the 18th Ibero-American Summit.
During the inauguration ceremony, Ibero-American General Secretary Enrique Iglesias said the international community had to work together to combat global recession.
"We should actively work together with the international community to emerge from the current turbulence and to cut back on the impact of the global recession which affects our economies. We will emerge, we will emerge," he said.
The theme of the summit is youth and development but it has been over-shadowed by the global financial crisis.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said youth would not be put aside.
"Because the world faces a difficult moment and I asked myself when I was listening to the Ibero-American General Secretary. If youngsters listening to us ask themselves why if the theme is youth and development we are talking about the global financial crisis and I would like to refer to that. Because us heads of state and government don't want these summits to turn into discussions and then not being able to commit to solutions. We would like the agreements we take for the youth in development to become a reality and for that to be possible we have to confront the financial crisis the world is living through which will affect us without doubt."
Salvadorean President Elias Antonio Saca said the summit served to show the world the Ibero-American community stood as one.
"Let our voices be heard as one, faced with international organizations and may the rest of the would know about our Ibero-America, about our creative ideas. Let us exercise the right to become the architects of our own destiny," Saca said.
The Ibero-American summit is organized annually and gathers 22 heads of state-- 19 of whom are from Latin America and three from Europe.
The 3-day summit will wrap up on Friday (October 31). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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