The EU-LAC Foundation participated at the EuroLat Meetings of the Standing Committees in Lithuania

From 16 to 18 July, the EU-LAC Foundation joined the annual “Meetings of the Standing Committees”, organized by the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) in Vilnius, Lithuania. At this joint multilateral Parliamentary Assembly 75 Members of the European Parliament and 75 Parliamentarians of Latin American counterparts discussed the EU-Latin American bi-regional relations out of a parliamentarian perspective.

These three-day Meetings kicked-off with a positive discussion between Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and representatives of the EuroLat on the EU-Latin American and Caribbean strategic partnership, economic cooperation, development cooperation, climate change and international migration. In her speech the President maintained that negotiations over free trade agreements between the EU and its economically fast growing Latin American Partners are high on the Agenda of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

In the following Meetings the Standing Committee on Political Affairs, Security and Human Rights, the Committee on Economic, Financial and Commercial Affairs, the Committee on Social Affairs, Youth and Children, Human Exchanges, Education and Culture and the Committee on Sustainable Development, the Environment, Energy Policy, Research, Innovation and Technology tried to elaborate comprehensive approaches within this wide range of bi-regional issues.

The EU-LAC Foundation was invited to give a presentation on EU-Latin American cooperation in drug related issues at the Meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs, Security and Human Rights. Dr. Bettina Trueb, the EU-LAC Foundations’ Programme Manager Research & New Developments, described previous progress within the field and underlined the necessity to find a bi-regional approach to solve this global problem.