Sponsored by the European-American Foundation, several prominent figures participated in the 12th International EU-Latin America Seminar focused on two aspects, the potential for expanding cooperation and the current outlook for digitization in both regions.

With key speeches by Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Costa Rica’s Vice President Epsy Campbell, both speakers agreed on the negative impact of the pandemic and the danger of not complying with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The effects on education and certain gaps that worsened in the fluid exchanges between the EU and Latin America as a consequence of Covid-19 were also exposed by Jolita Butkeviciene, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, International Partnerships of the European Commission.

More somber, unless short and medium-term actions are taken, was the debate on digitization issues, about which Carlos Lopez Blanco, Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Digital Economy, was categorical: Europe and Latin America are behind the United States and China.

Other attendees to the meeting, such as German Franz Marre, director of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the head of public policies for Latin America of the Telephone consortium, stated that the digital situation in both Europe and Latin America has certain potentials.

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