Leonel Fernández Delivers Keynote Speech During Opening of Cartagena Lecture

The former President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernández, delivered a keynote conference in this important South American city where he highlighted various issues important to the international agenda, and where he specifically concentrated on the issue of food sovereignty.

Dr. Fernandez’ conference is part of a seminar program launched to inaugurate the Cartagena Lecture, an initiative whose goal is to discuss and reflect on the
integration challenges faced by the Ibero-American nations.

In his remarks, the former President indicated that food security means that all individuals, at all times, will have physical, social and economic access to healthy and nutritional food staples that will satisfy the daily necessary intake of food that will guarantee them a healthy and active quality of life.

At the same time, he explained that in spite of the
efforts that have been carried out in the last decades, there are still a significant proportion of populations that have insufficient access to food to meet their daily demands. He stated that the solution to this problem is one of the greatest priorities of the United Nations.

In his dissertation, Fernández also discussed the issue of financial speculation with basic food staples. In this regard, he explained that there are sectors that oppose the existence of
controls, an issue that contributes to an element of uncertainty for all humankind.

The former President highlighted that today the financial sector controls US$700 trillion of the US$900 of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. This is a result, to a great extent, to the speculation that takes place with basic food staples through future purchase contracts.

Former President Leonel Fernández was invited as a special guest to the opening of
the Cartagena Lecture, which is sponsored by the Corporación Escenarios, headed by former Colombian President Ernesto Samper and co-sponsored by Cartagena’s Chamber of Commerce, the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID).

During the event, organizers honored the presence of Dr. Fernández when former President Samper used as the conference theme “It All
Began in the Caribbean,” an expression that Dr. Fernández used during his Presidency when discussing the discovery of the Americas and the importance of the Caribbean in the integration process of Ibero-America.

As part of the Cartagena Lecture program a panel discussion was held on “The Caribbean and the Integration of Ibero-America” with the participation of former Presidents Fernández and Samper, along with the former director of the
Ibero-American Institute of the University of Salamanca, Manuel Alcántara.  The panel moderator was the Spanish Ambassador in Colombia, Pablo Gómez de Olea.

In his intervention, Samper stated that the goal of the Cartagena Lecture is to stimulate awareness on the true dimensions of the challenges, threats and opportunities faced by the Ibero-American nations and their relationship with other extra-regional actors.

At the same time, the Executive
President of Cartagena’s Chamber of Commerce, María Claudia Páez, stated that for her organization the region’s synergy has become a priority geared to stimulate and encourage growth and integration processes, always working for the well-being of the region with the support of the entrepreneurial, trade and industrial sectors. These initiatives will contribute to generate jobs and strengthen the economy.