The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, will officially announce on Friday the nomination of the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, as the next Secretary of the Interior.

This was announced on Thursday night during the speech he offered at the gala dinner held at his private club in Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach (Florida), which from today until Saturday hosts a new edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“We are going to reduce regulatory waste, fraud and inefficiency,” promised the Republican, winner of the electoral fair on November 5 and who will assume his second term on January 20.

Burgum: another one that Trump left in the race

Billionaire and former executive director of a technology company, Burgum ran in the primaries for the nomination of the Republican Party and even participated in the first two debates, finally abandoned the race to the White House last December.

Shortly after, Bergum, 68 years old and governor of North Dakota since 2016, gave his support to the former president (2017-2021) in the race for the Republican nomination and campaigned with him in several events.

His name was even on the final list of the Republican’s possible presidential running mates, who finally opted for Ohio Senator JD Vance.

The ‘gala’ of the CPAC

The president-elect has today been the leading figure of the gala dinner of the conservative America First Policy Institute that is held in his mansion and social club, and in which he has been presented by actor Sylvester Stallone, who referred to the Republican as “the second George Washington.”

JD Vance, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and billionaire Elon Musk, who is having a prominent participation in the transition process of the future Trump Administration, have been part of the gala.

“He’s good. He has done a fantastic job. Really an incredible mind,” Trump said at dinner.

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, also participated in the event, who on the podium was “grateful” and “blessed” to be among “true giants.”

“You have done a fantastic job in a short time and it is an honor to have you here,” Trump said, who stressed that the libertarian “has made Argentina great again,” alluding to the slogan of his campaign since 2016.

The US president-elect announced today another outstanding nomination: that of former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his conspiracy theories about vaccines, as the new Secretary of Health.

The XXIX Ibero-American Summit started this Friday in Cuenca (Ecuador) with the attendance of the lowest leaders in the history of this forum, which began in 1991, and without any president of Latin America, with the exception of the host, Daniel Noboa, an unprecedented fact in this series of meetings between the twenty-two countries of Ibero-America.

This event, whose motto is ‘Innovation, inclusion and sustainability’, only the King of Spain, Felipe VI; the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the head of the Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, arrived, while, in another unprecedented event, the chairs of three countries were empty: Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which maintain broken relations with Ecuador.

Ibero-American Summit in the midst of tensions

Despite the scarce presence of leaders, the delegations are working to adopt a declaration that includes the agreements reached during the preparatory meetings, especially in terms of cooperation, but the talks are encountering obstacles in countries opposed to gender policies and focused on the sustainable development objectives (SDGs), according to sources close to the negotiation.

Tensions also focused on Cuba’s disagreement with Argentina’s claim to remove from the declaration a condemnation of the United States blockade of the Caribbean country, according to other sources also consulted by EFE during the development of the meeting of foreign ministers.

Given the difficulty of achieving the unanimity necessary to issue a statement from this Summit, countries such as Spain, Costa Rica, Panama and Chile promoted a declaration supported by the vast majority of participants, which will not be an official document of the appointment.

Allamand asks for cohesion

“It would be absurd to ignore that the region is experiencing convulsive times,” admitted the Ibero-American Secretary General, Chilean Andrés Allamand, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Ibero-American Summit.

The head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib) remarked that “the world needs more and not less multilateralism, cooperation and solidarity,” in a context where “politics is besieged by fragmentation and polarization.”

“The consequence of this is the great difficulty in generating consensus, which slows down the reforms that could lay new foundations of prosperity and coexistence,” said Allamand.

In that sense, he recalled that “the Ibero-American meeting allows us to distinguish us in a world in which conflicts explode, threats loom, injustices are perpetuated.”

“The Ibero-American meeting is the one that allows, in times of difference, to reach consensus, in times of fragmentation, to provide unity, in times of division and to promote cohesion,” while, “in times of difference, to take steps to argumentation, but not to exclusion.”

Thus, Allamand invited to “claim Ibero-America” and take advantage of “a work of more than 30 years in which the search for consensus has prevailed and in which advances have been generated with a real impact on people’s lives.” “This is not the time for resignation, but for ambition,” he added.

Noboa: “We carried out the Summit despite the conflicts”

For his part, Noboa said that his administration has worked to carry out this Summit, “despite all the internal and external problems and conflicts.”

The president, the youngest in Latin America, 36 years old, called for innovative solutions against transnational organized crime, climate change, the labor inclusion of young people, environmental protection, access to education and the strengthening of connectivity.

That is why he encouragered support for young people through job creation and vocational training, which in his opinion will open paths towards equitable economic growth.

“This will only be possible to achieve with the commitment of the business sector, as evidenced at the XV Ibero-American Business Meeting, which concluded this afternoon with the approval of the ‘Commitment to employability’,” Noboa celebrated at the Ibero-American Summit.

“The alarming unemployment rates make us an easy target for organized crime, which undermines the economic and social development of our nations. We must promote policies that encourage public-private investments and allocate resources to education to forge a better future for youth,” he concluded.

After the inauguration of the XXIX Ibero-American Summit, the forum will continue this Friday with the development of the plenary sessions, in which the Heads of State and Government will intervene, as well as the delegates of the other representations.

The Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, remotely inaugurated the Hancay megaport, located about 70 kilometers from Lima, which will seek to become a bridge that commercially connects China with Latin America.

“Go ahead,” Boluarte said from the Government Palace, next to Xi, to inaugurate the port, after hearing from the main pier that the construction of the port “has been completed in its entirety and the conditions for the start of operations have been met.”

Boluarte and Xi made a remote inauguration

The leaders observed on a huge screen how the brand new infrastructure began to work and, in a symbolic way, a container of Peruvian blueberries was loaded on a ship bound for China, while, simultaneously, a container with electric vehicles was deposited in a Shanghai port on a ship bound for Chancay.

They declared that the inauguration of this “emlecotic project” is a historic moment for the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

“Chancay becomes a new starting point of the Inca road of a new era. From Chancay to Shanghai,” said the Chinese president when expressing his satisfaction with the construction term of the first smart and green port in Latin America.

He indicated that this work, whose initial investment has been 1.3 billion dollars, will reduce the time of maritime transport between Peru and China by 10 days, and will save 20% of the logistical cost, in addition to bringing job opportunities to Peruvians and at the same time consolidating the Andean country as a logistics ‘hub’.

“We sail shoulder to shoulder to embrace the world and move towards a more beautiful tomorrow,” Xi concluded.

New stage of economic development of Peru

For his part, Boluarte maintained that the start of port operations is the beginning of a new stage of economic development for Peru, and that it also shows that the Andean country is a reliable partner.

“We are starting a transformation that will consolidate the country as a world-class technological and industrial logistics center that will strategically project us in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

He also stated that this port will contribute one percentage point to the country’s GDP once, once its operations have started, so “its importance is undeniable.”

He reiterated the bonds of trust with China as its largest trading partner, but also as a “sister country” that has played a fundamental role in the construction of the infrastructure that will help place Peru as a logistics center also for Latin American partners, since it will be a gateway between both worlds.