Spain will send 7.5 million doses of vaccines to Latin America as national vaccination campaign develops

Andorra

In his speech at the plenary session, Pedro Sánchez underlined the "unequivocal" commitment of the Government of Spain to universal access to the vaccine so that "no-one gets left behind". To make this commitment a reality, he announced that Spain will allocate 7.5 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 to Latin America through the COVAX multilateral mechanism, and in collaboration with the Pan-American Health Organization. This translates into a donation of between 5% and 10% of all the vaccines received in 2021.

The President of the Government stressed that the region will start to receive these vaccines when Spain reaches the threshold of 50% of the population vaccinated. "Deliveries", he said, "will be made gradually, in line with the progress of the vaccination campaign in Spain, which will not be affected by this, and we will see how to achieve this in coordination with our EU partners".

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Fernando CalvoThe President of the Government also declared that the main challenge at this time is to "radically" step up the capacity to produce the vaccines and for "intellectual property rights to form part of the solution to the fight against COVID-19".

To that end, he declared Spain's commitment to exploring all options to develop them more effectively and as fairly as possible in the fight against the virus. The President of the Government also underlined that Spain will finance the new Ibero-American Epidemiological Observatory.

In order to tackle the economic and social crisis stemming from the pandemic in the region, the members of the Summit adopted, upon a proposal from Spain and Argentina, a Special Communiqué to facilitate access by the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean to new sources of international funding under favourable conditions. This Special Communiqué supports the issue of new Special Drawing Rights by the International Monetary Fund and advocates the creation of a new financial instrument so that the countries that need it, regardless of their level of income, can gain access to lines of financing in response to and to recover from COVID-19.

Other initiatives geared towards post-COVID-19 recovery

Prior to the start of the Summit, a Framework Agreement was signed to boost the Movement of Talent in the Ibero-American Area - a Spanish initiative being pushed through since the Veracruz Summit in 2014 and backed by eight countries - which seeks to facilitate the mobility of talent in Ibero-America and foster the transfer of knowledge, innovation and scientific and intellectual creation.

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Fernando CalvoSpain also promoted the adoption of a further two Special Communiqués: one on climate change and the environment, promoted together with Chile, which shows a decisive commitment to climate action and the preservation of biodiversity; and the other on science, technology and innovation, which seeks to develop solutions that allow the Ibero-American Community to provide innovative responses to the challenges that have become more pressing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President of the Government Sánchez also held several bilateral meetings with the Presidents of the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, who visited Madrid the day prior to the Summit, with the Prime Ministers of Andorra and Portugal, and with the Ibero-American Secretary-General. Furthermore, at an event on the side-lines of the Summit, Spain backed the idea of a new International Treaty on Pandemics, which Pedro Sánchez took part in together with President Macron and the Presidents of Costa Rica and Chile and the Prime Minister of Portugal.

Non official translation