The IV Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) begins this Sunday in the Colombian city of Santa Marta with the aim of designing a new model of integration at a delicate moment in international politics. At this meeting, the 33 countries of CELAC and the 27 of the EU will seek to promote a new agenda of 'triple transition': energy, digital, and environmental, against the backdrop of tensions between some Latin American leaders and the United States over its naval deployment in the Caribbean.
The IV CELAC-EU Summit will attempt to 'give another face to integration' between the two blocs, which together have more than a billion inhabitants and a bi-regional trade of around 390,000 million euros annually.
The head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, along with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is one of the few major leaders who will attend the summit. Sánchez did not make a statement upon arriving in Santa Marta, but in Belém (Brazil), where he attended COP30, he highlighted that it is time to 'build bridges, reinforce our bilateral agenda with a continent that is very close to us from a cultural and historical point of view, as well as economic and commercial'. He also expressed confidence that the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur can be finalized soon.
The EU delegation will remain in Santa Marta until Monday, when it hopes to hold a meeting with the member countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). From the Caribbean region, among others, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Drew; the Vice President of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa; and the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Mia Mottley; Guyana, Mark Phillips; and Belize, John Briceño, will attend.
The official agenda of the summit began this Saturday with a welcome dinner hosted by Petro. The Spanish leader added: 'Faced with other countries and other administrations that are retreating into themselves (in an allusion to the United States), what Europe has to do is what Spain has been prescribing: to open up, to build bridges with other societies and other regional blocks'.
The summit will be co-chaired by the Colombian leader, Gustavo Petro, as host and pro tempore president of CELAC, and by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa.
The Colombian Foreign Minister, Rosa Villavicencio, upon receiving the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, stated:
'Unites us history, language, and the dreams of social justice; guides us the certainty that together we are stronger to build a future of peace, equity, and shared dignity in uncertain times'.
On Sunday at noon, the summit will be inaugurated with a plenary session followed by a round of interventions by the participating leaders, the official photo, and a lunch. Although the summit is scheduled to last until Monday, official sources said that 'the negotiating teams of the two blocks are trying to have the Santa Marta Declaration ready for Sunday', which could lead to an early conclusion.
With them will also be the Prime Ministers of Portugal, Luis Montenegro; Finland, Petteri Orpo; the Netherlands, Dich Schoof; and Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, on the European side.
