The course also had the collaboration of the University of Extremadura, the Euroamerica Foundation, the Provincial Council of Cáceres and the Provincial Council of Badajoz, as well as the sponsorship of MAFESA.
The conference was held from 27 to 29 June 2023 and was attended, both in person and remotely, by around 200 students from more than 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective was to contribute through training, reflection, debate and knowledge transfer to the analysis of the role of the EU-CELAC Summits and the Ibero-American Summits, as well as the role of the instruments of dialogue and cooperation, in order to take advantage of the potential of a stronger and more strategic bi-regional alliance to address current challenges at the global level.
During the inaugural segment, the President of the EU-LAC Foundation, Leire Pajín Iraola, explained that during 2023, intense work has been done so that "Europe can find the appropriate instruments for cooperation and thus be able to respond to the great challenges of today's multipolar world, for which it is more important than ever to weave strategic alliances such as the European and Latin American and Caribbean alliances".
The Director of the EU-LAC Foundation and co-director of the course, Dr. Adrián Bonilla, explained during his speech that the purpose of this conference was precisely to evaluate the expectations of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of Spain's presidency of the Council of the European Union. "Empirically - he indicated - it can be demonstrated that relations between the two regions, especially since the constitution of the European Union, have passed through Spain as one of the main hinges of encounter between the two regions, and whose role has been particularly important in the current situation for the Summit of Heads of State of the EU and CELAC, which had not been held since 2015". He indicated that the scenarios since then are different, as the institutional forms of distribution of political, economic and military capabilities at the global level have changed and, in addition, there is an evident transformation of the international order.
Consequently, during the course, a group of international experts, institutional leaders and academics debated and analysed the current context through various strategic themes for bi-regional dialogue. For her part, the coordinator of the sustainable development and economic affairs programme of the EU-LAC Foundation, Dr. Daniela Araujo, participated in the panel dedicated to the bi-regional digital partnership plan for investments in the EU and LAC, where she took the opportunity to present the results of the EU-LAC Just Transitions Forum, held in Barcelona on 15 and 16 May 2023.
The secretariat and moderation of the course was provided by Lorena Chano, professor at the University of Extremadura, Miguel Ángel Martín, head of European affairs at the Yuste Foundation and Diego Durán Cruz, Programme Manager of the EU-LAC Foundation.
The programme is attached and the recordings are available here.
