Conclusion of the Seminar

The Preparatory Seminar for the 2nd Summit Latin America and the Caribbean – European Union held in Bucharest, May 26-27, 2014 brought together more than 150 key participants from the European and Latin-American academic area,  including Mr. Titus Corlăţean, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Remus Pricopie, Romanian Minister of Education; Mr. Ioan Mircea Pascu, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, experts, professors and representatives of the diplomatic bodies in the two regions.

The event encompassed the opening conference attended by representatives of Romanian national authorities, MEPs and representatives of the Institute for Latin American Studies as the host institution for the seminar, lectures held by experts and professors and three main panels:

1. MAPPING OF THE EU-LAC ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION: Models and features. Its main goal is to advance the proposed mapping, as it is specified within the 2013-2015 FAP Action Plan

2. THE H2020 AND ERASMUS PLUS PROGRAMS: Preliminary evaluation of their implementation. Recommendations.

3. COOPERATION BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES- COMPANIES-PUBLIC SECTOR aimed to promote innovation, competitiveness and development

At the conclusion of the Seminar, participants expressed their enthusiastic views on the event which represented an excellent forum for communication aimed at developing the academic relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, while the findings of the debates and panels constituted an important step for discussions and decisions in the future Academic Summit in terms of integrating the higher education, research and innovation systems and of improving their relation with the society and the productive sector.