On 29 October, the International Seminar “Relations between Latin America and the European Union in the new contexts. The case of the Mercosur-European Union Agreement” organised by the EU-LAC Foundation together with the Carolina Foundation and the University of the Republic.
The objective of this International Seminar was to promote a dialogue, with experts and senior officials from the EU and LAC, on the opportunities offered by the EU-LAC Association and Trade Agreement network - and in particular the Association Agreement with Mercosur - to respond to common challenges such as the green transition, digital transformation, social inclusion or the revitalisation of multilateralism, with a view to the objectives of both regions in the geopolitical sphere. They also exchanged ideas on the results of the meeting of CELAC-EU foreign ministers held on 27 October and the steps agreed to strengthen political dialogue and cooperation between the two regions.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Secretary General of ALADI, Sergio Abreu, who stressed the importance of building a path between the two regions to strengthen leaderships; the Director General of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Diego Escuder, who emphasised the importance of Mercosur for the projection of the country; and the Ambassador of the European Union to Uruguay, Paolo Berizzi, who stressed the importance of Mercosur for the projection of the country; the relevance of the CELAC-EU Foreign Ministers' meeting held the previous day, and the geopolitical and strategic importance of the Association Agreement for Latin America and the European Union.
This was followed by the panel "The European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean Association Agreement Network: challenges and opportunities", with the participation of María Victoria Álvarez, Professor at the National University of Rosario (Argentina) and Jean Monnet Chair; Adrián Bonilla, Executive Director of the EU-LAC Foundation; José Antonio Sanahuja, Director of the Carolina Foundation; Gerardo Caetano, Professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay, and moderated by Florencia Salguero, Professor at the same university.
The panel presented the publications "30 años del Mercosur. Trayectorias, flexibilización e interregionalismo" coordinated by Gerardo Caetano and Diego Hernández Nilson, and edited by Fundación Carolina, Fundación EU-LAC and the University of the Republic of Uruguay; the book "The European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: Cartography of the Association Agreements", edited by José Antonio Sanahuja and Adrián Bonilla, and published by Fundación Carolina and the EU-LAC Foundation; and the book “Relanzar las relaciones Unión Europea y América Latina”, edited by José Antonio Sanahuja and published by Fundación Carolina and Fundación ICO. These publications are an example of the collaboration of the three institutions to contribute to the reflection on EU-LAC relations, the Association Agreements and in particular the EU-Mercosur agreement.
