Ursula von der Leyen's tour in Latin America began yesterday

Ursula von der Leyen's tour in Latin America began yesterday

Brazil, Argentina, then Chile again and, finally, Mexico. The President of the European Commission will be on a real tour, Ursula von der Leyen, from yesterday, 12 June 2023. until Thursday in Latin America with the aim of strengthening relations with the main countries in the region.

Brussels lays the foundations to prepare the summit EU-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) which will be hosted in the capital of Europe on 17 and 18 July and von der Leyen is expected to announce in these days a series of investment projects and initiatives in the region through Global Gateway, the 300 billion euro financing strategy with which the European Union aspires to create an alternative to the Chinese Silk Road.

Von der Leyen's tour kicks off yesterday in Brasilia, where she will be received by the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a bilateral meeting and a working lunch. Also yesterday, in the afternoon, President von der Leyen gave a speech to the Confederation of National Industry.

Today he will be in Buenos Aires, where he will meet Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina and where he will give a speech at the EU-Argentina Business Forum.

Wednesday will stop at Santiago de Chile, where he will meet the president Gabriel boric and will visit later Comberplast, a Chilean company dedicated to plastic recycling.

The tour will close on Thursday with a visit to Mexico City where he will meet the President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The July summit will be the moment to implement the common investment agenda between the European Union and Latin America-Caribbean, mobilizing resources for, among others, renewable energy and green hydrogen, critical raw materials, decarbonisation and transport infrastructure projects, 5G and last kilometer connectivity, digitalisation of public services, management sustainable forestry, health production, education and skills and sustainable finance.

Last week, always with a view to preparing At the July summit, the Commission adopted a joint communication with the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, with a new, renewed agenda for the region.

The EU estimates that thanks to these agreements, the Bilateral trade in goods increased by 40 percent from 2018 to 2022, with total bilateral trade in goods and services amounting to €369 billion in 2022.

Efforts are underway to sign and ratify the updated agreement with Chile and to finalize the one with Mexico, but the agreement with Mercosur blockade (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) whose Negotiations have been stalled since 2019.

Strengthening trade partnerships with the region is key to not losing the race to supply critical raw materials for the transition. Brussels is working to strengthen strategic commercial partnerships with those countries that can help the Union in the race for raw materials: Chile, for example, is the second largest producer of lithium in the world, which is used for the production of batteries.

The European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean region “already trade goods and services worth one billion euros every day, but now we want to go to the next level, for example with mutually beneficial partnerships on critical raw materials to diversify our chains of supply", he confirmed Dombrovskis.

“We must join forces on the fight against climate change, and I welcome Lula's leadership: we want to contribute 20 million euros to the Amazon fund and our member states will do so too”. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said this, specifying that the European Union “it will invest 10 billion euros in Latin America and the Caribbean through the Global Gataway program, and this is just the beginning because it will be complemented by contributions from member states”.