Iberoamerican summit ends with call to boost development
The 16th summit of the Ibero-American Nations Organization ended in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, on Sunday with the signing of the Montevideo Commitment - calling on donors to promote development, especially in vulnerable communities, to slow migration.

"Governments have to work hard to prevent migration forced on citizens for political and economic motives, so that no one should feel obliged to leave their home country," Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez told the conference's closing session.

The Commitment said that remittances should not be viewed as official aid, because they are sent by individuals to their families. It added that when states exercise their normal right to control who comes and goes from their territory, they must respect international law, human rights, and international law respecting refugees.

The heads of state also signed the so-called Montevideo Declaration stating their support for United Nations principles including democracy and respect for sovereignty; and restated their support for human rights, multilateralism and international law.

They also expressed support for Panama's plan to improve the nation's Canal; condemned a United States plan to build a wall on the border with southern neighbor Mexico; and expressed support for a Cuban bid to extradite Luis Posada Carilles, a Venezuelan citizen wanted in connection with a bomb attack that killed 73 people traveling on a Cuban airline.

The also called for Britain and Argentine to return to talks over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas. The two nations went to war over the South Atlantic island group, which is ruled by London, in the early 1980s.

"Looking to the future the region could find points... where the region can work together, without hegemonies, using instead the common heritage that unites all Ibero-Americans," Enrique Iglesias, secretary general of the organization said.

Michelle Bachelet, president of Chile, which will host the next summit in 2007, said that the meeting there would focus on how to achieve social cohesion across the region.