Ibero-American Foreign Ministers pose for a group photo during the XXII Iberoamerican summit in the

Portugal's President Cavaco Silva, right, and his wife Maria Cavaco, second right, celebrity virtual tour homes shake hands after their arrival at the airport of Jerez to take part at the 22nd Iberoamerican summit in the southern Spanish city of Cadiz, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Cadiz host a two-day summit that brings Latin American leaders together with those of Spain and Portugal, two countries badly hit by the economic crisis. This summit coincide with the bicentennial celebrations of the liberal celebrity virtual tour homes 1812 Spanish Constitution, popularly known as "La Pepa."
Honduras' President Porfirio Lobo arrives at the airport of Jerez to take part at the 22nd Iberoamerican summit in the southern Spanish city of Cadiz, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Cadiz host a two-day summit that brings Latin American celebrity virtual tour homes leaders together with those of Spain and Portugal, two countries badly hit by the economic crisis. This summit celebrity virtual tour homes coincides with the bicentennial celebrations of the liberal 1812 Spanish Constitution, popularly known as "La Pepa."
Shipyard workers block the main road heading to Cadiz where the 22nd Iberoamerican summit takes place in this southern Spanish city, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Hundreds of shipyard workers in the Spanish town of Cadiz on Friday blocked the main access bridge to the city on the first day of the Iberoamerican Summit between the Heads of Government of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
A shipyard worker uses a slingshot during a protest as they tried to block the main road heading celebrity virtual tour homes to Cadiz where the 22nd Iberoamerican summit takes place in this southern Spanish city, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Hundreds of shipyard workers in the Spanish town of Cadiz on Friday blocked the main access bridge to the city on the first day of the Iberoamerican Summit between the Heads of Government of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
Ibero-American Foreign Ministers pose for a group photo during the XXII Iberoamerican summit in the southern Spanish city of Cadiz, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Cadiz host a two-day summit that brings Latin American leaders together with those of Spain and Portugal, two countries badly hit by the economic crisis. This summit coincides with the bicentennial celebrations of the liberal 1812 Spanish Constitution, celebrity virtual tour homes popularly known as "La Pepa."
Shipyard workers celebrity virtual tour homes gather on the edge of a road carrying stones as they tried to block the main access to Cadiz where the 22nd Iberoamerican summit takes place in this southern Spanish city, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Hundreds of shipyard workers in the Spanish town of Cadiz on Friday blocked the main access bridge to the city on the first day of the Iberoamerican Summit between the Heads of Government of Spain, Portugal celebrity virtual tour homes and Latin America.
Shipyard workers are seen walking through tear gas fired by police, during a protest blocking the main road heading to Cadiz where the 22nd Iberoamerican summit takes place in this southern Spanish city, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Hundreds of shipyard workers in the Spanish celebrity virtual tour homes town of Cadiz on Friday blocked the main access bridge to the city on the first day of the Iberoamerican Summit between the Heads of Government of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso shakes hand after his arrival celebrity virtual tour homes at the airport of Jerez to take part at the 22nd Iberoamerican summit celebrity virtual tour homes in the southern Spanish city of Cadiz, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Cadiz host a two-day summit that brings Latin American leaders together with those of Spain and Portugal, two countries badly hit by the economic crisis. This summit coincides with the bicentennial celebrations celebrity virtual tour homes of the liberal 1812 Spanish Constitution, popularly known as "La Pepa."
CADIZ, Spain (AP) — In an historic role reversal, recession-hit Spain and Portugal on Friday courted the Latin American leaders of their former colonies, countries that now enjoy some of the strongest economic growth in the world.
Spain's King Juan Carlos opened the annual celebrity virtual tour homes Iberoamerican summit, which brings together the heads of Spain and Portugal and the leaders of Latin America to discuss political issues and arrange business deals.
As heads of state from Mexico to Chile arrived in the Spanish port city of Cadiz, where conquistadores centuries ago unloaded riches taken from the former colonies, economic forecasters confirmed that Latin America will continue to grow at a fast clip despite the global economic slowdown.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that the Latin American economy will shrink slightly from 4.4 percent this year to a still robust 3.2 percent in 2013, accelerating to 4 percent the following year.
Spain and Portugal, meanwhile, are in deep recessions expected to last into next year and hit by frequent protests over government cutbacks and higher taxes aimed at keeping the countries economically afloat. Portugal has needed a bailout for its public finances and Spain one for its banks.
The summit started two days after hundreds of thousands of Spaniards celebrity virtual tour homes protested Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy 's attempts to rein in the budget. On Friday afternoon, police in Cadiz fired rubber bullets at shipyard workers trying celebrity virtual tour homes to disrupt celebrity virtual tour homes the summit with a demonstration against mass layoffs.
The incident only slowed traffic in Cadiz for about an hour, and the leaders greeted each other in the evening at the historic San Felipe Neri Oratory church where Spain's first constitution was signed in 1812. After an elegant dinner hosted by the king, participants were to talk Saturday about the financial crisis.
Before celebrity virtual tour homes the ceremony, European celebrity virtual tour homes Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met with Rajoy to discuss the upcoming EU budget for 2014-2020 which, if passed at an EU meeting next week, would see Spain lose €20 billion ($25.5 billion) in subsidies and become for the first time a net contributor to EU funds.
While the Iberoamerican summit was traditionally a place for Spain to showcase its privileged role as a "big brother" for Latin American countries, it has seen that power diminished because of the four-year financial crisis, said Vincent Forest , an economist celebrity virtual tour homes with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Highly educated Spaniards and Portuguese are increasingly leaving to seek work in the countries' former Latin American colonies. And although Cadiz is more than anything a symbol of Spain's powerful colonial past, it now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
While Spain helped Latin American economies that were imploding more than a decade ago, investments by Spanish companies in Latin America that paid off in the banking and telecommunications sectors celebrity virtual tour homes are now helping their home offices stem huge losses in Spain.
The relationship between Spain and Latin America has become "clearly inverted" from what it once was, Forest said. "Spain is still richer than many of these countries and it has the potential to grow again in a sustainable path, but I doubt it will come to the point where it is the big brother again."
Instead, Spain has been forced to comply with demands by the 17-nation eurozone to bring down its bloated celebrity virtual tour homes deficit through extremely painful cuts, choking economic growth and any hopes Spain might have of returning to boom times it experienced for a decade before the financial celebrity virtual tour homes crisis began in 2008.
The main decision the heads of state aim to take at the summit is whether the event should be held every other year instead of annually. Spain bankrolls 65 percent of the cost for the 22 countries that participate, and Spanish officials have said they have no plans on cutting back because the gathering gives Spanish business celebrity virtual tour homes leaders a good opportunity to make deals with their Latin American counterparts.