The declaration of the Madrid EU-LAC Summit of 2002, states the creation of a European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean Common Area of Higher Education. It was within this framework that a group of universities from both regions decided to bring to fruition the First LAC-EU Academic Summit in January 2013, on the occasion of the First CELAC-EU Summit and the Seventh EU-LAC Summit, with the aim of bringing together a broad spectrum of universities, research centres, university authorities, and academic networks from both regions.
The First Academic Summit opened up a new path towards the creation of a common bi-regional area, with the creation of the EU-LAC Permanent Academic Forum. This is a long road, but as ever, it begins with the taking of one step. Read paper
Héctor Casanueva is the current Ambassador of Chile to the World Trade Organisation, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Furthermore, Mr. Casanueva was also a key promoter and co-director of the Secretariat of the Academic Permanent Forum established in the First ALC-EU Academic Summit in 2013.
This paper is a contribution to September's 2014 edition of the EU-LAC Foundation's Newsletter on the theme of Higher Education. This English translation is the responsability of the EU-LAC Foundation. If you would like to check the original version in Sapnish please click here.