Together with the Ibero-American Institute (IAI) and the GIGA – Institute for Latin American Studies (GIGA-ILAS), the EU-LAC International Foundation organised a Meeting of Think Tanks, Research Centres and Study Associations based in Europe dedicated to the analysis of Latin America and the Caribbean and the Bi-regional Relations between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in person in the Simon Bolivar Hall of the IAI in Berlin, Germany, on 28-29 April 2022.
At the start of the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU-LAC Foundation, the IAI and the GIGA-ILAS, considered it an opportune moment to invite representatives of Europe-based research centres and associations, whose field of work is the study of Latin America and the Caribbean and/or EU-LAC relations, to open an exchange on the challenges and consequences of the pandemic in LAC and bi-regional relations, as well as its effects on research agendas. Moreover, the participating entities exchanged about opportunities, options and instruments to improve the possibilities of multilateralism and development cooperation to address the consequences of COVID-19.
The meeting aimed to discuss the following questions:
- What effects has the COVID-19 pandemic had on the research agenda of the participating centres / associations, and how has the pandemic impacted knowledge generation, processing and analysis, that is, theoretical and conceptual work, research questions, methodologies?
- What are the results of the research with regard to the most relevant challenges and opportunities that emerge as consequences of the pandemic in LAC, particularly with regard to democracy, the economy, civil society, the environment, public health systems, multilateralism and bi-regional cooperation between LAC and the EU?
- How has the pandemic affected the transfer of information from the participating research centres / associations and the provision of advice to policy makers?
The meeting was a private event open to invited attendees only.