The administration of North American President Joe Biden this Wednesday invited Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky to participate in its major summit of the world’s democracies, which will take place next week in Washington and other capitals.
One of Biden’s aides, Rob Berschinski, confirmed at a press conference that Zelensky will participate, explaining that the war in Ukraine will be one of the main topics of the meeting, along with debates on economics, corruption and the fight against authoritarianism, among others. .
Zelensky will virtually intervene on the first day of the summit, March 28, and will speak about his vision of a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine, invaded by Russia on February 24, 2022, according to the meeting program released by the US State Department. stands.
The Ukrainian president will speak to a panel moderated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which will include the heads of diplomacy from a “regional diverse group of countries”, aiming to have different perspectives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Foreign Affairs. .
The United States has not disclosed the countries of origin of these foreign ministers, knowing only that neither Russia nor China are among the guests.
This is the second edition of the Summit of Democracies held by the Biden administration, which first proposed the idea during the 2020 presidential election.
The first edition, to which Ukraine was also invited, took place between 9 and 10 December 2021 and revolved around themes such as the fight against authoritarianism, the fight against corruption and the promotion of respect for human rights, but ended concretely without any announcement.
The United States is expected to use this second summit to announce “significant investments” of money in human rights protection programs, said Berschinski, director of democracy and human rights in charge of foreign policy at the White House National Security Council.
The goal will be to deepen one of the principles guiding Biden’s foreign policy: the idea that the world’s democracies are at a turning point where they need to show their citizens that they are the best form of government and thus make the advance a call a halt. of authoritarianism.
Besides the United States, Costa Rica, South Korea, Zambia and the Netherlands are the other host countries for the summit.
On the second day of the meeting, March 29, the leaders of these countries will begin the day with joint statements with UN Secretary General António Guterres, after which each will lead a session on a specific theme, with Biden speaking about how democracy can tackle global problems.
A total of 120 governments were invited to the summit, eight of them for the first time, as Washington believed it had made progress on the democratic level.
Among the new guests are Honduras, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mauritania and Mozambique.
Source: DN
