16 and January 17
The event, held in the Spanish capital, brings together specialists and high-level representatives from both regions for four sessions where different angles of the challenges to be faced will be addressed when deploying renewed cooperation for sustainable development between Spain, the Union European and Latin America.
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La Carolina Foundation and ICO Foundation organize the international seminar “Spain, the European Union and Latin America: renewed cooperation for sustainable development”, which is celebrated on January 16 and 17 in House of America, Madrid.
The Carolina Foundation and the ICO Foundation have organized different activities between 2019 and 2021 that have provided reflection and visibility to these issues, involving specialists from the academia and international organizations and political decision-makers and representatives of business and civil society. This seminar is along those same lines. There will be four major issues addressed: first, the implications of the growing geopolitical rivalry and the Ukraine war for the EU and Latin America and their political dialogue. Secondly, the development policies that both regions are adopting for recovery and the just transition. In third place, the challenges of the ecological transition and the energy matrix that they are addressing Latin America and the EU, starting, for the latter, from European Green Deal and its proposal for “green alliances” with other countries and regions. Finally, the seminar will examine cooperation policies for the development of Spain and the EU and the “development in transition” approach as elements that can also support a broad renewal of the biregional relationship.
The opening ceremony began with a few words from the director of House of America, Enrique Ojeda, who welcomed and pointed out that “beyond the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU This year, we are all aware of the particular moment that the world is going through right now: the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the erosion of democratic institutions, the efforts to emerge from the terrible effects of the pandemic. Therefore, this meeting of expert analysts and experts is very necessary, who will address key issues in the framework of renewed cooperation between Spain, the EU and Latin America".
Next, the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, highlighted that “Spain must continue to be an essential actor and a true linking bridge in the bi-regional relationship between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean”. Adding that “from Spanish Cooperation we accompany partner countries to achieve new, more open and comprehensive governance models that strengthen the capacity of institutions to provide quality public policies and thus establish a new social contract. In short, sustainable development for future generations.”
Josep Borrell highlighted: “Latin America is much more than an economic partner and a market of growing importance; “It is a partner for a social cohesion agenda that is key to the validity of our democracies.”
José Carlos García de Quevedo Ruiz, president of the Official Credit Institute (ICO) has stressed that “there is no doubt that holding this meeting gives us the opportunity to give visibility to thehe importance of alliances between Europe and Latin America and reinforces Spain's position as a bridge between both regions. Role that will gain even greater weight during the second half of 2023, a period in which Spain will occupy the presidency of the Council of the EU".
To the director of Fundación Carolina, José Antonio Sanahuja, “this seminar wants to rethink the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union at a particularly complex moment, in which Latin America has a new lost decade behind it, and war has returned to the global stage, with new challenges for the social, technological and environmental challenges that both regions face.
The inauguration concluded with some opening words from Josep Borrell, senior representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-president of the European Commission, in virtual format, who highlighted that “Latin America is much more than an economic partner and a market of growing importance. It is a partner for a shared agenda of social cohesion and the renewal of democracy. “It is a young continent that is looking for its space and its own voice in a world of giants.”