From 9 to 10 March, the Executive Director of the EU-LAC Foundation, Dr Adrián Bonilla and the Senior Programme Coordinator responsible for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation and Culture, Dr Anna Barrera Vivero undertook a mission to Bonn with the aim of presenting the EU-LAC Foundation and some of the current year's activities in its thematic lines to some interested parties based in Bonn.
During the first meeting with Ms Iris Danowski, Head of Section, Europe and Latin America, German Rectors' Conference (HRK), Dr Adrián Bonilla presented the EU-LAC Foundation, its mandate, and in particular the initiatives in 2022 in the field of Higher Education and Science, Technology and Innovation. The HRK - an association of public and government-recognised universities in Germany - has 268 member institutions, in which more than 92% of all students in Germany are enrolled. The participants of the exchange agreed on the potential for close cooperation of the two organisations in the higher education sector in academia and society, including teaching and study, research, innovation and transfer, scientific advancement, internationalisation and self-management and governance of universities.
The second meeting was held with Christian von Haldenwang (Coordinator for Latin America), Niels Keijzer (Senior Researcher) and Aline Burni (Researcher) from the German Development Institute (DIE), a development policy think tank, developing policy-relevant research and advising ministries, governments and international organisations. The participants exchanged on various projects of both organisations in which Latin American countries played an essential role. They also showed interest in institutional co-operations, especially with a view to an EU-LAC Foundation´s project about Sister Cities.
Dr Adrián Bonilla and Ms Iris Danowski