Secretariat Pro-Tempore

The Summit provides an opportunity for the Heads of State and Government to promote the main initiatives of interest to the Member States.

Together with the Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting, the Summit of Heads of State and Government is the event of the highest political significance within the framework of the Ibero-American Conference.

Since the Ibero-American Summits began in 1991, and before the Ibero-American Secretariat-General had been set up, a system was established whereby each host country appointed a Secretariat Pro Tempore.

The Secretariat Pro Tempore is held each year by the country in which the Summit will be held and is responsible for supporting the SEGIB in the organisation thereof, as well as coordinating with the SEGIB on preparatory work and providing continuity to its decisions with support from the so-called Troika (consisting of the host country, its predecessor and its successor).

Upon conclusion of the Summit, the baton is passed onto to the next host country.

The Secretariat Pro Tempore is led by a Secretary Pro Tempore, who is responsible for all of the organisation undertaken by the host country and acts as the "face" of the Summit to the rest of the world. The Secretary Pro Tempore for the 22nd Ibero-American Summit is the Spanish State Secretary for International Cooperation and Ibero-American, Jesús Gracia Aldaz, assisted in his work by the Ambassador on a Special Mission for the Ibero-American Summits and Multi-Lateral Ibero-American Affairs, Diego Bermejo Romero de Terreros.