The European Union and its Foreign Ministers met their Latin American and Caribbean counterparts on the occasion of their first stand-alone ministerial meeting, held in the Dominican Republic on 25 and 26 October 2016.
It was co-chaired by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, together with the incumbent CELAC President, Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic Miguel Vargas Maldonado.
“From climate change to the economy, from peace and security to migration, we are so much stronger when we face these challenges that are common challenges together, across the Atlantic. And indeed the ties between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean have never been stronger,” said Mogherini in her opening remarks.
“But our partnership can never settle for what we already have: we want to aim higher,” she continued.
“We are committed to our partnership and more than that, let me say, we are committed to our daily friendship. We are tied by the same culture, but there is much more than history that we share. We are tied by the same commitment to a fair economy, social justice and a multilateral world order.”
Join declaration
These commitments were reaffirmed in a Joint Declaration adopted at the meeting, along with a document assessing the state of play of the implementation of programmes and actions in different areas such as sustainable development, climate change, social cohesion, economic growth or research and technology.
Both regions agreed to build on the conclusions of the discussions on the assessment and to consolidate a more ambitious, strategic and balanced association on the basis of clearly identified common interests, which shall be the framework of their future bi-regional relationship.
New programmes
The EU and CELAC also signed the Agreement establishing the EU-LAC Foundation as an international organization of intergovernmental nature as an important instrument of bi-regional relationship.
During the meeting the EU has announced new programmes totalling more than €74 millionto support sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Overall, the EU committed over €710 million in 2016, in key sectors such as climate change, trade, private sector and investment, security and governance.
Man kan finde mere information om sidstnævnte initiativ om støtte til bæredygtig udvikling i en pressemeddelelse fra EU’s Generaldirektorat for Udvikling (DEVCO), her:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-3542_en.htm
