2023-06-07 21:19:00
The European Union (EU) seeks to recover dialogue with CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) after eight years of interruption, with regular summits at the level of ministers and leaders, seeking to strengthen political alignment, in the midst of the conflict with Russia, and focus on business issues around America’s natural resourcesaccording to a work agenda presented by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.
Borrell’s presentation seeks closer contact between the European block and Latin America and the Caribbean (ALC), which arrives at the gates of the summit of European leaders, which will take place in Brussels on July 17 and 18 Upcoming.
This is the first summit of this type since 2015, despite a commercial exchange that borders on 300,000 million dollars and historical and cultural ties between both parties.
The agenda of the summit aims to renew and reformulate relations between both regionsand for this, it presents a series of proposals that reaches the political and commercial areas, the approach to an ecological and digital transition, and the state of “citizen security”, among others.
“The relationship has been taken for granted and has even been neglected after years without a summit. In the geopolitical context, strengthening the relationship between the EU and Latin America is a strategic imperative,” Borrell explained at a press conference from Brussels, the news agency reported. Europa Press news.
“The relationship has been taken for granted and even neglected after years without a summit. In the geopolitical context, strengthening the relationship between the EU and Latin America is a strategic imperative”Joseph Borell
In Brussels, they consider it a priority to strengthen dialogue with a region that they consider close in political terms and to which an important economic relationship unites, so launching a permanent coordination mechanism to maintain more regular contacts is one of the main goals on the agenda.
The idea is to have a high-level dialogue between officials to evaluate the political relationship once or twice a year.
The idea is to have a high-level dialogue between officials to evaluate the political relationship once or twice a year.
The EU considers that this structure will be key to dealing with emergencies such as the one that occurred with the Russian invasion of Ukraineat a time when the European bloc considers it key to attract more countries to condemn and apply sanctions against Russia.
Borrell defended in the community capital the need to bring the relationship to the level of preferred partners, and described this link as “key” for the benefit of both regions.
Likewise, the head of European diplomacy indicated that under the Spanish presidency of the Council, the summit between the EU and Celac “marks a reunion” after the “long period” of 8 years.
The EU wants to prepare more meetings at the ministerial level, the idea is to have more regular foreign meetingsthat they can pave some appointments at the level of leaders, more regular leader summits.
After years without a summit, in the European capital they want the date and place for the next meeting of European and Latin American leaders to emerge from this meeting.
“The EU-LAC strategic partnership is today more important than ever. We are key allies in strengthening the rules-based international order and together defending democracy, human rights and international peace and security“, declared today for her part the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The strategy
One of the legs of the strategy is to strengthen commercial aspects between two regions that jointly represent 14% of the world population and 21% of world GDP.
“Our Global Gateway World program will also drive investment and closer cooperation”Von der Leyen added.
Latin America and the Caribbean are vital to the ecological balance of the planet.
The region accounts for more than 50% of the world’s biodiversity and is one of the main food producerswith 14% of world production and 45% of net international trade in agri-food products.
In this sense, the EU aims to sign and ratify the trade agreements with Chile, finalize the one in progress with Mexico and conclude an agreement on the agreement with Mercosur, pending an annex on environmental issues.
Bilateral and regional trade agreements are a key driver of growth and diversification strategies in both regionsand catalysts for sustainable and inclusive development.
Thanks to these agreements, bilateral trade in goods increased by 40% between 2018 and 2022, with total bilateral trade in goods and services worth €369 billion in 2022.
The American region is also a great power in terms of renewable energy. Its generation mix has the highest share of renewables in the world, at 61% in 2021.
In that sense, The EU aims to strengthen the agreements with Central America, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in terms of sustainability and aspires to join forces in the World Trade Organization, in addition to intensifying global efforts to diversify sources of raw materials and strengthen global supply chains.
With an eye on the vast natural resources and biodiversity of these countries, as well as agricultural production capacity and key strategic raw materials, the EU advocates a global infrastructure investment project, Global Gateway, to boost trade, investment , and the construction of more sustainable and interconnected societies.
Regarding the digital alliance between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, the agenda offers more cooperation between both regions in terms of connectivity, dialogue on regulation and space and free and secure data flows.
Likewise, it is proposed to consolidate cooperation to deal with transnational organized crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking.
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