ADELANTE 2 Presentation

Brussels, 27 May 2021

Last Wednesday, 19 May, the official presentation of the ADELANTE 2 Programme took place, introducing the second phase of the EU-LAC Regional Facility for Triangular Cooperation.

The presentation featured an exceptional panel, introduced and moderated by José Antonio Sanahuja, Director of the Carolina Foundation and Special Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean to the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The scholar presented the relationship of the ADELANTE 2 Programme within the framework of the New European Consensus for Development and the Development in Transition Agenda, which both call for cooperation modalities that go beyond the traditional ones, focusing on joint learning and the generation of knowledge. He also highlighted some inherent elements of the Programme, such as its alignment with the 2030 Agenda, the Ibero-American component, and the opportunity to apply the EU-LAC experience in Triangular Cooperation in other regions.

The following speakers were Jolita Butkeviciene (Director for Latin America and the Caribbean and for relations with all Overseas Countries and Territories at DG INTPA), Rebeca Grynspan (Ibero-American General Secretariat) and Ángela Ospina (Director of the Colombian Presidential Agency of International Cooperation). The panel was organised in response to the three components upon which ADELANTE 2 is structured: operational, analytical and institutional.

In this regard, Director Butkeviciene emphasised that Triangular Cooperation has become essential for maximising the external potential of the partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, and as a laboratory for ideas and new types of cooperation. Key to this has been the strong and committed multilateral and bilateral partners, who have contributed to the success of the first phase of the Programme. Building on this joint EU-LAC effort, ADELANTE 2 was established, which was briefly presented by Director Butkeviciene, with a special emphasis on the ADELANTE Window for Triangular Cooperation.

Rebeca Grynspan, in turn, commented on some of the progress of the SEGIB-EU project "Innovative Triangular Cooperation for the New Development Agenda", highlighting the challenge of aligning the international system with the 2030 Agenda through transformative cooperation, providing more space for indigenous peoples, and ensuring the system's alignment with local governance. The aim is to maintain the essence of Triangular Cooperation - and cooperation in general - as multi-actor, multi-level and multi-sectoral.

The Director of APC Colombia stressed the importance of knowledge sharing, especially at a time like this, in the fight against the pandemic. Based on Colombia's specific experience, she highlighted the paradigms of Triangular Cooperation: interdependence, complementarity and multi-stakeholder and multi-regional partnerships. She also addressed the added value of working with the EU through the triangular modality, which has led to capacity building among partner institutions that have in turn transferred this know-how to other countries

Lastly, Enrique O'Farrill, Head of the Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation Department of AGCID, and representing the Global Partnership Initiative of Effective Triangular Cooperation (GPI), presented the partnership, which aims to integrate Triangular Cooperation into international cooperation systems on a global scale, while promoting voluntary guidelines for effective Triangular Cooperation. In this regard, he acknowledged the fact that ADELANTE 2 had taken into consideration the reflections and contributions of the GPI to date in its formulation.

The presentation was a great success, and was attended by more than 200 people from Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe. In keeping with the spirit of collaboration, the institutions agreed on the need to promote joint work through Triangular Cooperation as a catalyst to achieve the SDGs, based on innovation, flexibility and a horizontal approach.

Video of the ADELANTE 2 presentation (Spanish)

ADELANTE 2 Presentation

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