EU-LAC SUMMIT — Action Plan — Final Declaration

The main objec­tives in this area are i) to increase region­al inte­gra­tion and social inclu­sion and cohe­sion, ii) con­tribut­ing to the over­all goal of pover­ty erad­i­ca­tion, espe­cial­ly in vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tion, in the con­text of sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, includ­ing the pur­suit of the MDGs. Some key ele­ments to achieve these goals are the pro­mo­tion of invest­ments in infra­struc­tures favour­ing inter­con­nec­tiv­i­ty and the devel­op­ment of social and eco­nom­ic networks. 

Work Pro­gramme:

* Dia­logue

a. Use all avail­able instru­ments to ensure ade­quate dia­logue on this mat­ter between the EU, Latin Amer­i­can and Caribbean coun­tries, such as those avail­able under the EUROso­ciAL II pro­gramme (includ­ing insti­tu­tion­al coop­er­a­tion), the dia­logue linked to the imple­men­ta­tion of the gov­er­nance tranche under the 10th Euro­pean Devel­op­ment Fund (EDF), as well as in the con­text of present and future trade, eco­nom­ic and asso­ci­a­tion agree­ments with Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean.

b. Con­tin­ue the bi-region­al dia­logue with­in the EU-LAC Forum on Social Cohesion. 

* Coop­er­a­tion activ­i­ties and initiatives

c. Mobilise the nec­es­sary finan­cial resources to improve and devel­op sus­tain­able infra­struc­tures and net­works favour­ing region­al inte­gra­tion and social inclu­sion and cohe­sion, includ­ing through the Latin Amer­i­ca Invest­ment Facil­i­ty (LAIF). LAIF grants are expect­ed to have a lever­age effect to mobilise resources from finan­cial insti­tu­tions to finance invest­ment projects and tech­no­log­i­cal trans­fer notably in three areas: i) inter­con­nec­tiv­i­ty and infra­struc­ture in par­tic­u­lar in the areas of ener­gy effi­cien­cy and sav­ing and renew­able ener­gy sys­tems, research, sus­tain­able trans­port, and telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion net­works; ii) social and envi­ron­men­tal sec­tors includ­ing cli­mate change mit­i­ga­tion and adap­ta­tion; iii) pro­vid­ing for growth of the pri­vate sec­tor (in par­tic­u­lar of micro and SMEs).

d. Mobilise the required resources for the estab­lish­ment of the EU-Caribbean Infra­struc­ture Fund with the pur­pose to con­tribute to strength­en­ing region­al inte­gra­tion and access to basic social ser­vices through improve­ments of phys­i­cal infra­struc­ture and relat­ed ser­vices. The fund is expect­ed to facil­i­tate the mobil­i­sa­tion of addi­tion­al resources by lever­ag­ing of grants with loans and pri­vate capital.

e. Sup­port the devel­op­ment of more effec­tive pub­lic social poli­cies as well as poli­cies aim­ing at strength­en­ing local entre­pre­neur­ial envi­ron­ment and cor­po­rate social respon­si­bil­i­ty, pro­mot­ing nation­al and for­eign invest­ment and tech­no­log­i­cal transfer. 

Expect­ed results

f. Imple­men­ta­tion of projects, in areas such as ener­gy effi­cien­cy and sav­ing and renew­able ener­gy, sus­tain­able trans­port, com­mu­ni­ca­tion net­works, cli­mate change adap­ta­tion and mit­i­ga­tion, social and eco­nom­ic net­works — lead­ing to increased region­al inte­gra­tion and social inclu­sion and cohe­sion, includ­ing tech­no­log­i­cal trans­fer and inno­va­tion when appropriate.

g. Estab­lish­ment of part­ner­ships between EU and LAC pub­lic admin­is­tra­tions, through insti­tu­tion­al strength­en­ing and coop­er­a­tion, to sup­port the man­age­ment and imple­men­ta­tion of social poli­cies in areas such as edu­ca­tion, health, life­long learn­ing, social secu­ri­ty and social ser­vices, admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice, tax­a­tion and employ­ment. These part­ner­ships may also involve dif­fer­ent Latin Amer­i­can and Caribbean coun­tries in tri­an­gu­lar cooperation.