Strengthening the complementarity between the European Union and Latin American cooperation instruments to fulfil the 2030 Agenda goals
Social cohesion and the fight against inequality are a strategic axis in the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union. They are supported at the highest level by the CELAC-EU Summits, from the one in Guadalajara (Mexico) in 2004 to the most recent one in Brussels (Belgium) this year.
In Mexico City the validity of this Euro-Latin American commitment was demonstrated in the current context of the “graduation” of several middle-income countries in Latin America and the redesign of a new cooperation approach between both regions to more efficiently face the global challenges of the 2030 Agenda.
This was expressed by senior representatives from the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) and the European Union in Mexico, precursors to an exchange between a hundred participants and institutions from both sides of the Atlantic on these major issues: social cohesion, inequality, public policy and complementarity. AMEXCID’s executive director, Agustín García-López, highlighted “the alternative futures that exist in the promotion of social cohesion in Europe and Latin America. Mexico and the European Union are going through one of the most dynamic moments in their cooperative relationship: we are building mechanisms and schemes to fulfil the commitments of the 2030 Agenda and to respond to Mexico’s specific circumstances.”
Klaus Rudischhauser, head of the European Union Delegation in Mexico, stressed that “social cohesion cannot be understood without a focus on human rights,” adding that “this event represents the strong will of the EU to promote the synergies and complementarity of the different instruments in our cooperation policy”.
At the exchange seminars on cooperation in social cohesion that took place between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, two instruments for cooperation between the European Union and Latin America, EUROsociAL+ and SOCIEUX+ and a bilateral instrument with Mexico, the Social Cohesion Laboratory II, presented practical experiences that grounded the policy dialogue in tangible results. The many points they highlighted included the entry of women into the labour market and the care system with a gender perspective (EUROsociAL+ with INMUJERES México and the Uruguayan National Care System); green jobs for young people (SOCIEUX+ with the Peruvian Ministry of Labour), and; multilevel collaboration to reduce inequality (Social Cohesion Laboratory II in Mexico).
Social protection and employment, pillars of social cohesion, topics at the SOCIEUX+ Meeting
These and other experiences were also part of the SOCIEUX+ Meeting: “Employment and Social Protection Systems in Latin America”, giving continuity to the technical and public policy exchanges on the first day of the conference, which was organised by Expertise France and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) through SOCIEUX+ and in conjunction with EUROsociAL+.
The event from the European Union initiative for social protection, employment and work in Africa, Asia and Latin America, served to present its results in this region in the fields of entrepreneurship and youth employment, women’s access to the labour market, inter-institutional coordination and institutional training on social protection and employment systems.
EUROsociAL+ / SOCIEUX+ / Laboratorio de la Cohesión Social – México / UE en México / AMEXCID
