European Commission hosts a bi-regional meeting with Latin America and the Caribbean

On 28 and 29 November 2023, the European Commission hosted the Senior Officials Meeting for the EU-CELAC Joint Initiative on Research and Innovation (JIRI). The meeting provided an opportunity to review joint bi-regional cooperation in research and innovation and to discuss shared priorities for the next years. Particular attention was paid to cooperation in the areas of biodiversity, marine research, urban transitions, agriculture, digital transformation and health research. The meeting also addressed the joint work on mobility of researchers, research infrastructures and on open science, which are amongst the most active areas ofthe EU's cooperation with the region.

The current bi-regional roadmap will be updated in the light of the discussions, in view of political endorsement at the first bi-regional meeting at ministerial level in 2024. The new roadmap will also inform potential topics for the 2025-2027 Work Programmes of Horizon Europe. The topics will be clustered in the Horizon Europe participant portal to form a ‘LAC Initiative’. It was agreed to establish bi-regional working groups on global challenges and on innovation. They will provide a regular dialogue between the EU and CELAC on these high-priority topics and will add to the growing research and innovation links between the two regions. A working group on research infrastructures already exists.

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