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Seventh Framework Programme European Union

Project funded under FP7
Contract number: 217190
Programme: Cooperation
Instrument: CSA (Support)

Context

1)  Milestones of the EU-LAC Cooperation

The strategic partnership between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) began with the first summit of Heads of State or Government of both regions in Rio de Janeiro in 1999 and was consolidated and strengthened in the Summits of Madrid (2002), Guadalajara (2004), Vienna (2006) and Lima (2008). The summits, held every two years alternately in Europe and Latin America, give room for political dialogue on the convergence of interests and values as well as on the desire of both parties to further consolidate and strengthen their relationship in the future.

Priorities for the EU-Latin American co-operation have been defined as follows:

  • The fight against poverty and social inequality;
  • The consolidation of good governance and the promotion of peace;
  • Economic co-operation, trade development and support for regional integration.

“Knowledge Sharing and Human Capacity Building” is listed as one of the twelve specific themes of the Final Declaration of the Vienna Summit central to the bi-regional dialogue. Other recognized focuses are the role of ICTs to support social cohesion, regional integration and competitiveness; the need to create the “EU-LAC Common Area of Higher Education”; the strengthening of the “EU-LAC platforms for S&T” and the further promotion of the “EU-LAC Knowledge Area”.

 

2)  EU-LAC Regional Cooperation Programmes

With a view to developing closer ties between Latin America and the European Union a number of regional cooperation programmes have been established over the past decade.

In the following some important cooperation programmes are listed:

The second half of 2009 will build the peak of EUROsociAL, the technical cooperation programme of the European Commission to support social cohesion in Latin America through the sharing of experiences between public administrations responsible for the administration of Justice, Education, Employment, Taxation and Health.

The URB-AL programme, that initiated its third phase in 2008, develops direct and lasting links between European and Latin American local communities through the dissemination, acquisition and application of the best practice in the urban policy field.

AL-Invest IV, an economic co-operation programme also launched in 2008, will continue to support the internationalisation of Latin American small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

In the area of higher education, the ALFA III programme focuses on the cooperation for modernising and reforming higher education systems in Latin America and on reinforcing the established partnerships between higher education institutions from both regions.

The Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window replaces the Alßan programme as from 2008, and provides scholarships and opportunities for academic exchanges.

To reinforce the partnership between the European Union and Latin America in the field of the Information Society and to close the digital divide is the objective of the @LIS programme.

In the Renewable Energy Sector the Euro-Solar programme acts as a cooperation platform between the European Union and Latin America.

A further initiative to identify and develop all opportunities offered by the partnership between the EU and the LAC region is the European Union - Latin America Relations Observatory OBREAL EULARO, a network set up by 23 academic institutions and research centers in Europe and Latin America with the financial support of the European Commission.

The EULAKS project, with its objective to build a EU-LAC collaboration space in the Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH), will complement the listed horizontal cooperation programmes of the European Commission.

EULAKS incorporates into the wider EULARINET (Co-ordinating Latin America Research and Innovation NETworks) which is a 4-year Coordination Action to strengthen the bi-regional dialogue on S&T between EU Member States, Associated States and Latin American Partner Countries

Links:

EUROsociAL: www.programaeurosocial.eu

URB-AL: www.centrourbal.com

@LIS: www.alis-online.org/

Erasmus Mundus: http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/doc72_en.htm

OBREAL EULARO: www.obreal.unibo.it

EULARINET: www.s2lat.eu/eularinet

 

3)  ICT and Information Societies in LAC

The use and influence of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) on the creation of knowledge and knowledge societies is considerable. The World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS) underpinned this credo as the UNESCO stated that the global information society was only useful if it favoured the development of knowledge societies and aimed at human development based on human rights.

In the concrete cooperation between LAC and the EU, four EU-LAC Information Society Ministerial Meetings have been held. The main result, the Lisbon declaration, expresses the support to the strengthening of the EU-LAC research and development cooperation, notably in the context of the Seventh EU Framework Programme for research; it also acknowledges the progress made in the interconnection among the Latin American (redCLARA) and European (GEANT) networks, which provide a solid basis for scientific bi-regional cooperation; and it affirms its interest to continue and intensify the dialogue between i2010 (the EU policy framework for the information society and media) and eLAC2007 (Strategy for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean) .

Within the Seventh Framework Programme two projects in the field of ICT, the SOLAR-ICT and WINDS-LA, have made substantial contributions to the strengthening of cooperation in the field of ICT.

Both projects are specific support actions (SSA) funded by the European Commission with the aim to deepen strategic Research and Development cooperation between Europe and Latin America and designed to highlight the opportunities and potentials for strategic collaboration in the field of ICTs.

Links:

WINDS-ICT: www.winds-la.eu

SOLAR-ICT:www.solar-ict.eu

 

4)  The eLAC initiative

Another important initiative in the field of Information Societies in Latin America was launched by the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), the eLAC action plan “Strategy for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean” which is already in its second phase of implementation (eLAC 2010).

eLAC is a regionally concerted strategy that conceives of Information and Communications Technologies as instruments for economic development and social inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a strategy with a long-term vision (until 2015) in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and those of the World Summit on the Information Society. ICTs shall be used as a strategic means to foster social inclusion and achieve qualitative improvements in various areas of public and social life.

The Lisbon Declaration underlines the importance of implementing the activities included in the Regional Action Plan eLAC2007 and its progress, which had the technical cooperation of various regional organisations and networks, in particular ECLAC, OAS and INFOLAC (Programa de la Sociedad de la Información para América Latina y el Caribe).

Link:

www.eclac.org/socinfo/elac/default.asp?idioma=IN