THE LEADERS OF EU-CELAC SUMMIT UNVEILED THEIR GLOBAL GATEWAY STRATEGY

USPA NEWS - Eight years since their last gathering, EU leaders and leaders from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met in Brussels for the third EU-CELAC summit. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Lyen, together with the President of Argentina ,Alberto Fernandez, and President of Columbia, Gustavo Petro, held a press conference, after the EU-CELAC summit, 17-18 July, in Brussels.
At the summit, EU and CELAC the more than sixty leaders committed to renewing their long-standing partnership, which is founded on shared values and interests and strong economic, social and cultural ties. he series of meetings began on Monday morning with an EU-LAC Business Roundtable, during which President Von Der Leyen presented the EU-CELAC. Global Gateway Investment Agenda (GGIA). This program includes more than 135 projects aimed at making the fair ecological and digital transition a reality on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is structured around four pillars: a fair ecological transition, an inclusive digital transformation, human development, and health resilience and vaccines.

EUROPEAN LEADERS THRILLED WITH THE EU-CELAC DISCUSSIONS AMID COLLABORATIONS At the summit, EU and CELAC the more than sixty leaders committed to renewing their long-standing partnership, which is founded on shared values and interests and strong economic, social and cultural ties. he series of meetings began on Monday morning with an EU-LAC Business Roundtable, during which President Von Der Leyen presented the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda (GGIA). This program includes more than 135 projects aimed at making the fair ecological and digital transition a reality on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is structured around four pillars: a fair ecological transition, an inclusive digital transformation, human development, and health resilience and vaccines.

On this occasion, the President also announced that Team Europe has committed to providing more than €45 billion until 2027 to support the strengthened partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean. The summit further intensified the partnership between the EU and CELAC countries on common priorities such as digital and ecological transitions, the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss, health, food security, migration, security and governance or the fight against transnational crime.

During the summit, the EU stepped up its energy cooperation with Argentina and Uruguay by signing two Memoranda of Understanding. The first defines the main areas of cooperation, in particular concerning renewable energies, hydrogen and the reduction of methane emissions, and underlines the need to ensure a socially just energy transition. The second highlights that renewable energy, energy efficiency and renewable hydrogen are key areas of cooperation, as both the EU and Uruguay strive to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The series of meetings began on Monday morning with an EU-CELAC Business Roundtable, during which President Von Der Leyen presented the EU-CELAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda (GGIA). This program includes more than 135 projects aimed at making the fair ecological and digital transition a reality on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is structured around four pillars: a fair ecological transition, an inclusive digital transformation, human development, and health resilience and vaccines. As part of the EU's "Global Gateway" strategy, during the EU-CELAC summit, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Banco Santander signed a €300 million loan to support the installation of a series of small photovoltaic solar power plants for self-consumption in Brazil. Similarly, the EIB also announced a €200 million loan to Banco del Estado de Chile to finance new homes that meet better energy efficiency standards, and a €100 million loan to support the growing renewable hydrogen industry in Chile.

The EU has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chile on the establishment of a partnership in the field of sustainable raw materials value chains, which will contribute to Europe's security of supply while creating jobs and growth in Chile.

In the digital domain, the EU and Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay have agreed to deepen their partnership by establishing an EU-CELAC Digital Alliance. This alliance provides a framework for cooperation on digital issues for the benefit of citizens of both regions and reaffirms the commitment to the digital transition.

On the sidelines of the summit, High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell signed, on behalf of the EU, three Memoranda of Understanding on bilateral consultations with Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador, which provide frameworks for deepening cooperation efforts and engaging in dialogue on common agendas.

To respond to the unprecedented increase in humanitarian needs in Haiti, the EU also announced the release of emergency aid of €10 million.

This aid will enable humanitarian organizations to strengthen their response and meet the most urgent needs, focusing primarily on food and nutrition.

PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY PRES. CHARLES MICHEL & URSULA VON DER LYEN, ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, GUSTAVO PETRO The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Lyen, together with the President of Argentina ,Alberto Fernandez, and President of Columbia, Gustavo Petro, held a press conference, after the EU-CELAC summit, 17-18 July, in Brussels. « We stand before you with a sense of accomplishment and the feeling that a promising, optimistic page is turning in relations between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union. A few moments ago, we – the European Union and CELAC – reached agreement on a declaration. A declaration that is ambitious and covers a very broad scope of activity for our future cooperation. And this declaration was supported by all countries, with the exception of one, which could not give its agreement, due to a particular paragraph. This shows the political success of this meeting, which, since yesterday, has provided an opportunity to work seriously and intensively on the different subjects on our agenda, ranging from how we can tackle the challenges of climate change and biodiversity protection together to the commitment to play an active part in the digital transition. It has also been an opportunity to work on issues of economic and trade cooperation, as well as investment. The summit has equally enabled us to work together to defend the values and principles that are dear to us: to defend multilateralism - we want a multipolar world based on the rule of law, based on the principles of the United Nations Charter, the principles of sovereignty, and all these issues were the subject of dialogue and in-depth discussions and then, at the end of the meeting, of decisions that were taken thanks to this ambitious declaration for the future. » President of the European Council Charles Michel said.

As for the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Lyen, declared “During this EU-CELAC summit, we had the feeling of reuniting with old friends and making a new start. We are currently living in a period of great geopolitical change, and it is necessary for friends who share the same values, such as the EU and our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean, to come together. We are doing this with our new Global Gateway Investment Program (GGIA), under which we will invest over €45 billion in the region. We want to provide benefits to local communities and create local value chains in the region. This is the spirit of our partnership”.

THE LEADERS DISCUSSED A BORAD RANGE OF ISSUES TO BOLSTER TEH PARTNERSHIP, INCLUDING
• enhanced cooperation in multilateral fora
• global peace and security
• trade and investment
• efforts to combat climate change
• justice and security for citizens
At the end of the summit they adopted a declaration, which was endorsed by all countries, with one exception due to its disagreement with one paragraph, and agreed to hold summits every two years.