On 7 June 2023, the VIII Ordinary Meeting of the Board of Governors of the EU-LAC International Foundation took place in the Moot Court of the Bucerius Law School in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the headquarters city of the Foundation. The purpose of this meeting was to present to the member countries the reports on the results of past activities and the planning of upcoming activities in the context of the third EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Brussels on 17-18 July 2023.
The meeting was attended by 35 delegations from the member countries of the EU-LAC Foundation: 18 delegations from the European Union, and 17 delegations from Latin America and the Caribbean, thus reaching the Quorum for the approval of the decisions raised at this meeting.
The Board of Governors was co-chaired by the co-presidencies of the Foundation: Diani Prince, Special Envoy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Member State holding the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC); and on behalf of the European Union, by Claudia Gintersdorfer, Head of the Americas Regional Division of the European External Action Service. In addition, a representative of the Hamburg Senate, Corinna Nienstedt, was present for the opening session.
During the meeting, the President of the EU-LAC Foundation, Leire Pajín Iraola, and the Executive Director, Dr Adrián Bonilla, presented the annual activity report and audit report for the year 2022. They emphasised that the EU-LAC Foundation - as a bi-regional instrument that places civil society issues on the political agenda - will continue its efforts to promote the bi-regional partnership from the social sphere.
The contributions of the member states and the financial sustainability of the organisation were then discussed. The members subscribed their contributions to the Foundation and the Mexican delegation announced the deployment of a seconded person to contribute to the strengthening of the Foundation's work. In addition, it was welcomed that in 2023 three more members ratified the Constitutive Agreement: Argentina, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Slovakia. The consolidation of the EU-LAC International Foundation as an International Organisation was also reported through the signing of the Headquarters Agreement on 11 May 2023 at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
We thank our co-chairs, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as well as the delegations that participated in this successful VIII Regular Meeting of the Board of Governors of the EU-LAC International Foundation.
