The EU competes with China in Latin America.

With the theme "Building a shared future to provide all citizens with a prosperous, united and livable society," the European Union (EU)-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit, bringing together leaders from 61 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, concluded on June 11 (early morning of June 12 Hanoi time) in Brussels, Belgium.

South America

The conference resulted in numerous commitments to cooperation in trade and tourism, including $800 million in funding from the European Union for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

This figure of $800 million is actually insignificant compared to the $250 billion that China recently pledged to Latin America. However, it represents a significant effort from the EU, given that the region has just barely weathered the sovereign debt crisis and divisions within the Eurozone are growing.

With China and the US increasingly exerting significant influence over Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, as a powerful global bloc, feels vulnerable.

Therefore, this EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit is an opportunity that the European Union cannot miss. Besides increasing investment in the region, the EU has reached an agreement with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to break the deadlock in negotiations with the MERCOSUR economic bloc, comprising Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and Venezuela, in order to move towards signing a large-scale EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

Negotiations between the EU and Mercosur on a free trade agreement began in 1999 but stalled in 2004 due to disagreements between the two sides over the imposition of import tariffs aimed at protecting European agriculture.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed optimism about the prospects for renegotiating the talks: “European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told me that things are still on track and I hope that the talks on this issue will conclude soon.”

According to leaders of these two major economic blocs, the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement, if formed, would increase bilateral trade by 100 billion euros per year and benefit more than 700 million people.

In addition to general agreements, the EU and Brazil also discussed a plan to build an undersea fiber optic cable connecting Lisbon (Portugal) to Fortaleza, worth $185 million, aimed at reducing Brazil's dependence on the US. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff stated that promoting cooperation with the EU is an opportunity for Brazil to escape its current economic and social crisis.

President Roussef said: “We are quite concerned about the current state of the economy. We are working to address inflation and unemployment. By promoting cooperation projects with the EU, we have the resources to address our problems, and at the same time, we are also looking at our problems from the perspective of the European Union in terms of public debt and addressing unemployment.”

At the conference, European Union countries also signed visa-free travel agreements for citizens of five Caribbean nations, aiming to attract tourists from these countries to Europe in the future.

Beyond simply aiming to boost trade, the EU also seeks mutually beneficial diplomatic relationships with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, including Cuba, which has conflicts of interest with the EU's close ally, the United States.

In a joint statement concluding the two-day EU-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) summit in Brussels, Belgium, the EU and Latin American countries stated: “In the current context, we hope that all necessary steps will be taken toward the early lifting of this embargo.”

The sanctions have caused “unjustified humanitarian consequences” for the Cuban people and “are harming the legitimate development of economic relations between Cuba, the EU and other countries.”

Leaders from the three regions welcomed the announcement by US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro last December that they would restore diplomatic relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, the EU and Cuba are expected to hold another round of talks in Brussels early next week (around June 15-16) in an effort to normalize bilateral relations.

According to VOV.VN