High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini highlights the role of EUROsociAL in the promotion of social cohesion and gender equality in Latin America

The ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) meet on 16th and 17th July in Brussels as a step prior to the Summit of Heads of States and Government EU-CELAC next autumn: “Building bridges and strengthening our partnership to face global challenges” is the motto of the meeting. This meeting is chaired jointly by Federica Mogherini, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Carlos Castaneda, acting minister of foreign affairs of El Salvador and president pro tempore of CELAC.

Federica Mogherini stressed that the European Union will continue to support the fight against poverty, as well as innovation, creativity and high-quality education, and emphasised that Euro-Latin American cooperation is first and foremost an association for our people: “Through the years we have invested in gender equality (…), we have promoted social cohesion through EUROsociAL”.

The vice president of the European Commission also highlighted the new bi-regional cooperation model: “This is not traditional development aid, this is cooperation with an increasingly stronger continent. We are moving beyond the old donor-recipient mentality towards a partnership between equals“.

Mogherini also referred to the support for reconciliation in Colombia; the modernisation of trade and political agreements with Mexico, Chile and Mercosur; the application in its entirety of the Association Agreement with Central America; and negotiations with the Caribbean countries to renew the Cotonou Agreement.

For his part, the minister of foreign affairs of El Salvador and president pro-tempore of CELAC, Carlos Castaneda , highlighted the relevance of the EU-CELAC space for the strengthening of the historic bond of friendship and cooperation that is on-going between both regions: “since last year, our technical teams have made an effort to define a statement that reflects the ideals and commitments we share in a wide variety of topics (…) such as gender equity, security, the fight against drugs, the protection of the environment, among others “.

On the first day of the meeting, the ministers focused on consolidating multilateralism and strengthening cooperation in global forums. They addressed the common challenges and means of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This may include a debate on new forms of international cooperation or on new areas of collaboration such as digital or urban development.

On the second day of the meeting, the ministers dealt with how to continue working together to improve the integrating capacity and sustainability of the economy as well as trade, investment and productivity. They also discussed the approval of Chapter 2 of the UE-CELAC Action Plan, specifically as it relates to sustainable development, environment, climate change, biodiversity and energy.

This meeting, which takes place in Brussels, has brought together 28 and 33 representatives of countries from the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, respectively.

EULAC Foundation awards to citizen initiatives and young journalists

Parallel to the ministerial session, the high representative of the European Union and the minister of foreign affairs of El Salvador presented the EU-LAC Awards to the CIVICS Map, the best project in the category of citizen initiatives; as well as Cristina Belda Font and Maria Claúdia Silva, in the category of young journalists. These awards were created by the EU-LAC Foundation in 2015, with the aim of increasing visibility and promoting knowledge of good practice and innovation models in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Read the full speech by Federica Mogherini

Declaration Second Ministers Meeting

Learn about EU-CELAC relations