Brussels, 27 October 2022
Check against delivery – ¡Solo es auténtico el texto pronunciado!
It is the first ministerial meeting between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union since 2018, many years ago, too many. We are 61 states and we have gathered here 54 – it’s a lot. I think it is a good moment to relaunch the relationship between Latin America and the European Union.
We have a lot to do. We are facing the war in Ukraine, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which is sending shockwaves all around the world. We have to deal with the food crisis, energy crisis, financial crisis. Economic prospects are not good for Latin America, not good for Europe and not good for the world. It means that we have to work together more.
We will discuss about the Mercosur agreement [with the European Union], we have to de-block it. We have good news from Chile. I think that in the next few weeks we’ll be able to finish the Association Agreement negotiations. We are discussing with Argentina about a deal in order to use all the potential for Argentina to provide energy and food to the world. And, certainly, we have to overcome the difficulties of the COVID-19 [pandemic] and the war. Together, we could do much better. We have a lot of links, a lot of relationships among us, we have to use them more.
Source – EEAS