The meeting of foreign ministers of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Thursday 27 October in Buenos Aires was described as a new starting point in the bilateral relationship, with a view to an EU/CELAC summit of heads of state or government of both regions scheduled for the second half of the year in Madrid, under the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 12995/7).
“It had been five years since we met, since we had established concrete work agendas”, noted the Argentine minister, Santiago Cafiero, who hosted the meeting.
According to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the meeting allowed participants to reaffirm their commitment to placing relations between the EU/CELAC countries “in the service of peace and sustainable economic development”, and social justice.
He highlighted four areas for joint work: - intensify dialogue at the highest political level; - modernise the network of trade agreements between the EU and certain countries, such as Mexico or Chile, or regional sub-groups such as Mercosur (see EUROPE 13051/25), while “European companies have invested more in Latin America than in China, Japan, Russia and India combined”; - deepen cooperation in future sectors, such as digital and climate transition, while tackling social inequalities; - promote peace, democracy and human rights.
In their joint declaration, the ministers of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean reaffirm their full support for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. A thinly veiled condemnation of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
According to Cafiero, “Latin America and the Caribbean may be far from the battlefield, but the consequences of this war are knocking on our doors every day and the capacities and instruments we have to deal with them are limited”, particularly because of the public debt of the countries concerned and the process of deindustrialisation they are facing. “The world is facing a shortage of fertilisers and soaring gas, oil and food prices”, Borrell said.
The 54 ministers present in Buenos Aires agreed to “deepen cooperation on food security, energy, health, social justice and the integration of production systems and value chains, including with respect to raw materials”.
The day before, Mr Borrell had praised Latin America’s strong potential in the “production of green hydrogen”, which is of great interest to the Europeans, as well as the enormous reserves of rare metals, such as lithium, of which “60% of the world’s reserves” are located in the Bolivia-Argentina-Chile triangle.
As evidence of a reinvigoration of bilateral relations, the ministers of both regions unveiled the ‘Ruta 23’ roadmap, which lists the events that will take place over the course of a year and culminate in the EU/CELAC summit. A trade fair will be held in Brussels in July.
“The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2023 will be a key moment (...) for Europe to once again turn its attention to Latin America”, promised the Spanish minister, José Manuel Albares, on Twitter.
See the roadmap to the EU/CELAC 2023 Summit: https://aeur.eu/f/3u6
See the joint EU/CELAC press release: https://aeur.eu/f/3u5 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)