EU promises investments to Celac, which refuses to become a “quarry of resources”

The European Union promised this Monday 45,000 million euros in investments from its institutions and its member states until 2027 to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (Celac), which in turn called for a deeper relationship between both parties and that the region does not become in a meremineral extraction region either “quarry of natural resources”.

The economic forum organized on the margins of the EU-Celac summit in Brussels was the setting chosen by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to announce the number of investments with which the European club aspires to become the “preferred partner” of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

“More than 135 projects are already on the starting line, from clean hydrogen to critical raw materials, from the expansion of high-performance data cable networks to the production of the most advanced RNA vaccines.”, said the German at an event that brought together political and business leaders from both sides of the ocean.

Also taking part in the inaugural session of the economic forum was the president of the Latin American development bank CAF, Sergio Diaz-Granadoswho called “redefine” the relationship between the EU and the CELAC countries after years in which they have left each other “empty on the way”.

“Latin America and the Caribbean have much to contribute to the present and future of Europe, and Europe has the capacity to contribute to our region as a whole.“, he claimed Diaz-Granadosto later claim that Latin American and Caribbean countries do not want to be seen as “a region of extraction of raw materials, but as a partner in solving challenges”.

“It is not viable or acceptable that we are just a quarry of natural resources, condemned to extractivism and the provision of cheap food and low-skilled labor”, said the Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, along the same lines.

Minutes before, her own Von der Leyen had given guarantees that this will be the case by stating that the EU, unlike other foreign investors, “is not only interested in investing in the extraction of raw materials”, but also in partnering to develop “local processing capacities, to make batteries and final products such as electric vehicles”.

The President of the Community Executive stressed that European investments will focus on “create local value chains“, so that the “added value stays in Latin America and the Caribbean”, and may also be accompanied by “first-class technology and high-quality training for local workers”.

In a similar line, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expressed himself, who assured that the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean need “investments in social and urban infrastructure” while offering “societies in a process of great social mobility” and “new internal markets with millions of consumers”.

The president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn, defended that Latin America and the Caribbean can also “be an important part of the solution to global challenges”, such as the food and energy security problems generated by the Russian war in Ukraine, and that the association between the region and the EU generates benefits for both parties.

In this regard, he called on European business leaders to “engage more in Latin America“as it is needed”much more participation from the private sector” in investments and “New opportunities will not only be necessary, but attractive.”

“Engaging the private sector is crucial to our success”, also acknowledged the European Commissioner for International Associations, Jutta Urpilainen, who stressed that public investments “will not be enough to bring the progress that Latin America and the EU need”, so companies and investors will have to embark on the task.

According to data from the European Commission, the investments of the EU in Latin America and the Caribbean they have increased by 45% in the last decade, to 693,000 million euros in 2021, while trade in goods and services between the two regions rose to 369,000 million that year.

Source: EFE