- English
Serie de Cátedras de las Américas
Cátedra de las Américas
Quincuagésima Cátedra - Benita Ferrero Waldner
Quincuagésima Cátedra - 30 de noviembre de 2012
"Las Relaciones UE-ALC: Hacia una Renovada Alianza de Cooperación"
Oradora: Benita
Ferrero Waldner, Presidenta de la Fundación EU-LAC
(English only)
It's a great honor and pleasure for me to be here today in my capacity as an
Honorary Chairwomen of the European Union - Latin American and Caribbean
Foundation, the Ell-LAC Foundation, a function that I exercise as an Honorary
Chairwomen and I would like to thank you for the invitation to speak about "
EU-LAC relations towards a new partnership", here at the Headquarters of the
Organization of American states
(OAS) in Washington DC. My conviction about the relevance of the partnership
between the European Union, Latin America and the EU has been a cornerstone of
my political and diplomatic career: First, as Secretary of State and Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Austria and later on, as European Commissioner for
External Relations and Neighborhood Policy.
If I look back, I think that over the years we have consistently been
strengthening the Strategic Partnership, initiated in Rio de Janeiro in 1999,
and I believe that the present and the future hold many opportunities to
continue doing that. Of course there are lots of challenges but I tend to see
them as a chance to renew our partnership.
The relations between Latin America and the Caribbean on the one hand and the
European Union on the other have already seen some centuries of shared history
with "light and shadow". Both regions have had already an institutionalized
relationship for more than 4 decades and, from the Summit of Rio de Janeiro
onwards a Strategic Partnership between EU and LAC was created, thus giving a
framework to the bi-regional relations between the two continents, comprising
a total of 60 countries, the 27 of the EU and the 33 of LAC.
Intervención Completa
