Her Excellency Mrs. Rebeca Grynspan, Ibero-American Secretary General;

Excellencies, Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegations of Ibero-America;   

May you receive cordial greetings from Havana.

I thank the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of Andorra for the successful celebration of this meeting and the wise way in which the Conference activities have been conducted, even amidst the exceptional circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  We reiterate our support and recognize the work of the Ibero-American General Secretariat in these efforts.

Excelencies:

We appreciate the kind invitation conveyed by the People’s Republic of China to exchange on the best experience achieved in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and the prospects for cooperation during the recovery stage. We would like to commend the work carried out by the Mexican Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC.

We would like recognize the cooperation offered by the People’s Republic of China to 27 countries of our region to confront the COVID-19 epidemic and the more than 30 exchanges on the best practices for preventing and treating this disease.

Mr. Director General;

Excellencies, Heads of State and Government;

I feel honored to bring into this virtual Summit the voice of Cuba, a small developing country, where workers in power struggle on a daily basis to achieve all the justice, which was the dream and commitment of the founding fathers of our nation.

Today, as has been always the case throughout the last 61 years, Cuba is sharing the new and serious challenges facing the International Labor Organization as it enters into its second century of its existence.