At the opening session of the EuroLat Assembly, José Manuel Albares expressed his commitment to “strengthening, definitively and forever" the ties between the European Union and Latin America, and to promoting a “comprehensive partnership" between the two regions to face the challenges of the future. According to the head of Spain's diplomacy, “the goal of the Spanish Presidency is to also be the Latin American Presidency in Europe"; therefore, this meeting in Madrid “is not an end, but rather the means to consolidate a positive agenda and to establish structured dialogue".
In their respective addresses, the Speakers of the Congress of Deputies and of the Senate, Meritxell Batet and Ander Gil, also highlighted the importance of intensifying ties between the two shores of the Atlantic, and how democratic institutions can work to make relations stronger.
For his part, the European Co-Chair of EuroLat, the Spanish MEP Javi López, applauded the Assembly and the EU-CELAC Summit, two forums that serve to “meet and listen to each other", and pointed out the importance of having boosted, in Brussels, several trade agreements b etween the two regions, and of having agreed upon the “institutionalisation" of relations: “one of the outcomes of the Summit is that we need to automate" those ties.
Lastly, his Latin American counterpart, the Colombian Óscar Darío Pérez, called for “greater bi-regional cooperation on health, education and human mobility", as well as for “supporting the Governments of the two regions in strategic development that -strengthens our systems, prioritising the most vulnerable populations".
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Photos: Pepe Méndez (NOLSOM)