Latin American and European experts coordinate efforts

Brussels, October 11, 2013. The Third Regional Seminar of the EUROCLIMA programme, an initiative financed
by the European Union, will take place this 14th and 15th of October in the city of Brussels, Belgium. The objective of this intercontinental event will be to reflect, among Latin American and European experts, on the strengths of EUROCLIMA’s first phase and to plan the actions for the next three years.

Given the very positive results obtained in the first phase of the program (2010-2013) and because of the determined support of the Latin American countries, the European Commission has decided to continue with an investment of ten million euro in the second phase of EUROCLIMA.

“The Third EUROCLIMA Seminar will be an excellent opportunity to reflect on how to build on the Latin American and European institutional strengths to achieve significant progress in the fight against climate change” stresses Catherine Ghyoot, responsible for the EUROCLIMA programme at the European Commission’s Unit for Regional Programmes for Latin American and the Caribbean.

More than 50 participants are expected to attend the Seminar, including high officials from 17 Latin American governments, from the European Commission, and directors of international programs like the the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Moreover, during the two days after this Third Seminar, the important First Round Table of the European Union and Latin American and the Caribbean will take place on “Cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean on Climate Change”. This event will unite approximately 150 high level officials of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with their counterparts of the EU Member States, the European Commission and European External Action Service. The presentations of both events will be available to the general public through the European Commission’s website.

“One of the major strengths of EUROCLIMA is exactly this interchange of experiences between both continents; therefore the Latin American participants will visit the city of Liège that forms part of the Covenant of Mayors, one of the main European initiatives related to climate change” explains Jan Karremans, EUROCLIMA’s Director for Technical Assistance.

More information
Valentina Villoria, Communication and Visibility Expert, EUROCLIMA
valentina.villoria@euroclima.org
www.euroclima.org

EUROCLIMA is a joint environmental programme of the European Union and Latin America, focused on climate change.

Its objective is to facilitate the integration of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and measures into Latin American public development policies and plans.