The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Barcelona Provincial Council, with the support of the Secretary of State for International Cooperation of the Government of Spain, the Council of Municipalitiesand Regions of Europe (CMRE), Mercociudades and other local governments networks, have organized the Forum of Local Governments of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and CaribbeanStates. With the support of PLATFOMRMA, FIIAPP, Casa América Cataluña, VNG International, UCLG CIB Working Group, UCLG and CIDEU.
This event had the participation of 45 speakers and 120 elected and technical representatives of local governments, national and international networks of local authorities, members of the academic sector and foundations, as well as other entities from both regions. The main objective of the event was to situate local governments of both regions in the renewed strategy that emerged from the Summit of Heads of State and Government last July, to present to the different actors of the two regions the role that local governments can and should play in the development of this strategy, and to identify the added value for the states of both regions of the cooperation between their local governments.
On 17 and 18 July 2023, the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States took place in Brussels for the first time in eight years.
The event ended with the adaptation of the Final Declaration (see attachments) which emphasised the importance of territories and communities involvement in the New Agenda for Relations between the EU and Latin America.
Furthermore, parties specifically acknowledged “the role of local government associations from the two regions in coordinating and creating alliances in the localisation of the new agenda in order to strengthen the partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean”.
