President Alberto Fenandez held a bilateral meeting this afternoon with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, within the framework of the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that takes place in Buenos Aires. There, both agreed on the importance of continuing to strengthen this link through the development of new cooperation initiatives.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Barbados highlighted the technical cooperation with Argentina, and highlighted the successful project on antimicrobial resistance carried out with PAHO and CARICOM.
The president thanked Mottley for her presence at the CELAC Summit and called on her to work together in the framework of the ECLAC South-South Cooperation Conference, whose Presidency Argentina assumes in May 2023.
In turn, the President highlighted the possibilities of complementarity of both economies, expressed his interest in Argentina becoming an important food supplier for Barbados, at the same time that he highlighted the possibilities of cooperation in the agricultural sector.
The Head of State indicated that Argentina is interested in strengthening cooperation in humanitarian assistance and disaster risk reduction with Barbados through the White Helmets Commission, and told Mottley about the launch of the Environmental Humanitarian Visa Program that allows nationals and residents of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean displaced by socio-natural disasters, access a humanitarian visa to stay up to 12 months in Argentina, as well as temporary residence.
Participating in the meeting were the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Luciana Tito; the Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gustavo Martínez Pandiani; the spokesperson for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti; Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Barbados and the Ambassador of Barbados to Brazil and concurrent in Argentina, Tonika Sealy-Thompson.
Fernández thanked Barbados for its support for the resumption of negotiations between Argentina and the United Kingdom in order to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute related to the Malvinas Question, especially for its support in the field of the Organization of the American States (OAS).
On February 8, 2022, the President had held a working meeting with Prime Minister Mia Mottley in Barbados, where he traveled in his role as President pro tempore of CELAC to address, mainly, the challenges imposed by climate change in the region.
