The EU-LAC Foundation organised on November 17th an expert meeting in Brussels, with the support of the Directorates General for Research and Innovation and for Education and Culture of the European Commission.
The principal objective was to promote the synergies on academic and scientific cooperation within the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC). Participants in the meeting represented a cross-section of networks of universities and academic partners from the two regions as well as representatives from different services of the EU institutions, involved in higher education and research.
Paola Amadei, Executive Director of the EU-LAC Foundation, together with the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the EU Alejandro González Pons and the Deputy Managing Director for the Americas of the European External Action Service, Roland Schäfer, opened the meeting, being the Dominican Republic the country that currently holds the pro tempore Presidency of CELAC.
The objectives of the meeting were to determine ways in which EU and CELAC regions could benefit more of the on-going academic mobility schemes, research projects and scientific networks, to foster cooperation for human and institutional capacity building as well as internationalisation of research and higher education initiatives, and to help consolidate initiatives to be as inclusive and concrete as possible.
During the meeting the European programmes Erasmus + and Horizon2020 were presented as well as biregional initiatives of different participants.
The EU-LAC Foundation is a biregional organisation and it is part of its mission to bring together representatives of government and civil society of the two regions to debate, share best practices and look for innovative solutions in a variety of areas. Scientific and academic cooperation are an integral part of the EU-CELAC Action Plan and were on the Foundation’s agenda from its inception.
