The Prime Minister, António Costa, defended this Saturday that the countries of the Ibero-American area should form an “energy transition alliance”, in a speech reaffirming his support and calling for commitment to the EU-Mercosur agreement.
“We have to be a great alliance for the energy transition, because we have all the conditions for it. First of all, resources,” António Costa declared at the 28th Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
As for the European Union’s “long-standing trade agreements” “with Chile, Mexico and in particular Mercosur”, the Prime Minister expressed “huge expectation” that they can continue in Spain’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the second semester of this year.
“The cost of not doing it is much higher than the cost of doing it, so I appeal to everyone to commit themselves so that the Spanish Presidency is crowned with success in this dimension”he said.
In defense of more cooperation in the energy sector in the Ibero-American space, António Costa said that “the largest lithium reserves in the world are here in Latin America” and “the largest lithium reserves in Europe are in Spain and Portugal”.
On the other hand, he notes that Spain and Portugal have made agreements with France about the construction of a gas pipeline for the transport of hydrogen.
“Which means that this green hydrogen that can be produced here can be transported by boat, then distributed all over Europe, right up to the center of Europe,” added.
The Prime Minister also pointed to the “high quality digital cable” between Latin America and Europe: “It is a huge opportunity for us to develop together the whole economy based on data, based on artificial intelligence. And this infrastructure must in serving the development of all of us”.
Source: DN
