Latin America and the Caribbean

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The EESC has been working with Latin American and Caribbean counterpart organisations since the 1990s. Several EESC's opinions have focused on relations with this region, at regional, sub-regional and national level. The EESC's priorities include the development of civil society organisations, economic and social development, regional integration and cooperation in the multilateral sphere.

At a regional level, the EESC organises biennial meetings between civil society organisation representatives in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, as one of the preparatory events prior to the EU-CELAC Summit.

At sub-regional and national level, several permanent structures have been set up: In 2009, the EESC set up a civil society Round Table with the Brazilian Economic and Social Council to provide a forum for dialogue and continuous cooperation between representatives of Brazilian and European civil society. The EU-Chile Association Agreement gave the Committee a mandate to establish a Joint Consultative Committee with its Chilean civil society counterpart in order to monitor the agreement, which was finally set up in 2016. As regards the Andean Community countries, the EESC takes part in the Domestic Advisory Group monitoring the EU-Colombia/Peru/Ecuador free trade agreement. It also participates in the CARIFORUM-EU Consultative Committee that monitors the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement. Permanent relations have been established with the EESC's institutional counterparts in Mercosur (the Economic and Social Consultative Forum) and Central America (the Consultative Committee of the Central American Integration System).

  • CARIFORUM-EU Consultative Committee - 6th meeting

    The Cariforum-EU Consultative Committee (CC) was established with the task and responsibility of promoting dialogue and cooperation between representatives of organisations of civil society, including the academic community, and social and economic partners.

  • ACP
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    Under the auspices of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)-European Union relations, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organises regular consultation meetings with ACP and EU economic and social stakeholders, including representatives of civil society originating from the 79 ACP countries.

  • The 19th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Central America Association Agreement took place virtually on 18 March 2021.

  • JCC meeting / Virtual

    The EU-Chile Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) held its sixth preparatory meeting in the new mandate on 7 December 2020, one week after the successful visit of Foreign Affairs Minister Andrés Allamand Zavalala in Brussels.

  • Interactio Hybrid

    14th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Colombia, Peru and Ecuador Free Trade Agreement

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    Video-conference

    The 6th meeting of the EU-Central America joint meeting of civil society Advisory Groups and Civil Society Dialogue Forum took place on 12 and 13 November 2020 virtually.

    On Friday 13 November 2020,the Advisory Groups of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, together with the European Union Advisory Group, met to debate and  address the concerns of all sectors represented in them, also taking into account the challenges ahead in the awake of the COVID-19 crisis on the two regions, and make recommendations to the Trade and Sustainable Development Board.

  • Video-conference

    The 18th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Central America Association Agreement will take place virtually on 10 November 2020.

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    Video-conference Joint meeting

    During the meeting, the EU Domestic Advisory Group (EU DAG) and civil society representatives from the Colombia DAG, Peru Domestic Mechanism and Ecuador DAG discussed the implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development Title of the Trade Agreement,...

  • The fourth meeting of the EU-Chile Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), established by the EU-Chile Association Agreement was held via a video conference on 27 November 2019. At this meeting, the members adopted a Joint Statement.

    The JCC is made up of eighteen members, nine from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and nine from Chilean civil society organisations. It is co-chaired by Josep Puxeu Rocamora, EESC member, and Roberto Zúñiga Belauzarán, Director, National Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CONAPYME).

  • The fifth meeting of the EU-Chile Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), established by the EU-Chile Association Agreement was held via a video conference on 15 May 2020. 

    The members discussed topics of interest for both parties, such as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on cooperation, trade and investment, decent work and informal economy and the Agenda for Sustainable Development; as well as proposals for strengthening of the role of the Joint Consultative Committee. The members adopted a Final Declaration on these topics.