During the first EU-CELAC Ministerial Meeting since 2018 in October of 2022, the Ministers of foreign affairs from the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) agreed upon “Renewing the bi-regional partnership to strengthen peace and sustainable development”. This meeting was followed-up by the new CELAC-EU Bi-Regional Roadmap 2022-2023, leading up to the upcoming EU-CELAC Summit in July 2023, the first bi-regional Summit since 2015. In the context of the EU’s aim to strengthen its relations with the Latin American countries in light of the new geopolitical reality, the European Commission has now taken the first step in solidifying the renewal of this bi-regional partnership: it launched an initiative that will outline a new agenda to step up with Latin America, especially with regard to trade, investment, and the digital and green transition.
To this end, the Commission provided a one-month feedback period at the beginning of 2023 for stakeholders to share their thoughts on this new agenda. The EU-LAT Network participated in the open call of the EU, and published a statement that questions the limited scope to the general political focus in this open call, as the effects and objectives of trade and cooperation should be taken into account as well. Furthermore, the Network reaffirmed that it is crucial for this new agenda to be jointly created by both civil society and the institutions in a elaboration process based on mutual involvement.
Read the Reaction here (Spanish)
