SICA supports DR’s call to the international community about Haiti
The member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) called the international community to aid Haiti and promised to continue their fight against the effects of the pandemic, the climate crisis and the high international prices of food, fertilizers and other inputs.
At the conclusion of the summit of SICA Heads of State and Government held in the city of Santiago (north of the Dominican Republic), the regional entity endorsed the “urgent” appeal that, at the beginning of the conclave, formulated the Dominican Executive to the community to address the “serious crisis” Haiti is going through.
In the final document of the meeting, the States that make up SICA expressed their “concern about the serious situation that affects the Republic of Haiti, in the economic, social, political and humanitarian spheres, which hinders the development of its institutions and citizens ».
In that order, they asked the international community to launch “joint actions and efforts” to make a “durable” and “sustainable” response to make Haiti viable.
Climate
On the other hand, they highlighted the participation of Central America and the Dominican Republic in the Framework Convention on Climate Change held in the Egyptian town of Sharm el Sheikh last November, in which the region reaffirmed its commitment to promote more competitive, inclusive agriculture, sustainable, low carbon and adapted to the effects of climate change and variability.
In this regard, they praised the regional efforts made to contribute to risk management, vulnerability reduction and the impact of disasters in SICA member countries, particularly in the face of the consequences of hurricanes Julia, Fiona, Lisa and other climatic phenomena that have affected the region in recent months.
The final declaration raises the need to develop mechanisms that ensure a “fair” and “equitable” distribution of the benefits derived from biodiversity, recognizing the contributions that the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples of the SICA region, as well as the local communities, make , through their traditional knowledge, for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Security and Migration
The SICA summit also approved the implementation of actions aimed at preventing violence in all its manifestations and encouraged internal efforts to review and update the Strategic Framework for the Prevention of Violence (MEPV), which is adopted as a guiding instrument. about it in the region.
With regard to migration, the countries pledged to continue working on the consolidation of comprehensive and sustainable strategies, recognizing that the responses “to our challenges may be effective” to the extent that timely information is available as a basis for decision-making. decisions of the competent bodies of SICA.
The summit thanked the European Union (EU) for the technical assistance it has provided to the Regional Economic Reactivation Plan, which concerns economic, transport and health aspects.
The presidents of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, participated in the regional meeting, as well as the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, a country that assumed the pro tempore presidency of SICA for the next few years at the end of the summit. six months.
Also present were the vice presidents of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, and of Honduras, Renato Florentino Pineda; the president of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), the Panamanian Amado Cerrud Acevedo, and the head of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Honduran Dante Mossi.
SICA, founded in 1991, is made up of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Belize and the Dominican Republic as full members, while Mexico, the United States, Greece and other countries have the category of observers. regional.