The EU-LAC Foundation is pleased to present the publication "The Covid-19 Crisis and Pathways to Sustainable Recovery in the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean" which compiles the interventions presented during a Keynote Lecture Series 2021 held virtually from July to September 2021 in collaboration with the Latin American Studies Programme of the University of Hamburg.
These conferences were implemented with the objective of contributing to the generation of knowledge and the exchange between scientists, civil society actors, public officials and decision-makers on the impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in different political, economic and social sectors particularly affected by the pandemic, as well as on concepts, good practices and public policies that have been developed in Latin American, Caribbean and European countries to lead to a better and sustainable recovery of these sectors.
In doing so, the 2021 Keynote Lecture Series responded to some of the common priorities identified by the high authorities of both regions. In December 2020, at the EU27-LAC Informal Ministerial Meeting, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean countries expressed their deep concern about the devastating impact of the coronavirus and “reaffirmed their determination to step up joint efforts to overcome the multidimensional challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, which risks exacerbating existing structural gaps, inequalities, social, economic and financial exclusion”.
Along these lines, the Keynote Lecture Series took place in six virtual sessions. Each session focused on a particular area, such as public health systems, educational institutions, the eco- nomic sector, gender relations, urban development, and a particular vulnerable group - mi- grants. For each Keynote Lecture, we invited speakers from the EU and LAC with leading expertise on the topic to analyse and compare strategies, solutions and transformative mea- sures that have emerged in the past months in one or several countries from both regions to- wards a better recovery. The conferences were moderated by a representative of the EU-LAC Foundation and a representative of the Latin American Studies Programme of the University of Hamburg. The sessions were open to the interested general public and their recordings are available at the links indicated at the beginning of each chapter of this publication.