Apart from establishing a regular high-level political dialogue the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Strategic Partnership is also committed to creating discussion forums and spaces where different voices have the opportunity to express their views. The Lima Summit thus aims to bring together not only Heads of State and Governments from Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe, but also important non-state actors. A series of events covering subjects as diverse as business, migration and culture are therefore scheduled to take place in the months leading up to the Summit. The meetings are hosted by different organisations in various locations across Europe as well as Latin America and the Caribbean, bringing together partners from a range of sectors, such as trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), members of parliament from both regions and academics. On the one hand these preparatory events reflect the great human and cultural potential of the two regions. More importantly however they also open up a way for non-state actors to participate in the Summit process and to shape the final outcome.

 

Preparatory Meetings in the run up to the Vth EU-LAC-Summit

Lima (Peru), 16-17 May 2008

Preparatory meetings	Venue	Date	Institution in charge
Seminar on Management and Security of Public Stockpiles of Small Arms and Light Weapons including their Ammunition [69 KB]	San José (Costa Rica)	6-7 September 2007	Germany and Costa Rica
EU-LAC Social Cohesion Forum	Santiago (Chile)	September, 23-25, 2007	Chile and the European Commission (DG External Relations, EuropeAid and DG Employment)
EU-LAC Forum for local government representatives	Paris (France)	29-30 November 2007	France, Spain and Italy with EU and LAC representatives of local authorities, European Commission
Inter-parliamentary Assembly EURO-LAT First Ordinary Plenary Session [226 KB]	Brussels	18-20 December 2007	European Parliament and LAC Parliaments
EU-LAC Ministerial Conference on Environment	Brussels	4 March 2008	European Commission, Slovenian EU Presidency and LAC
EU-LAC Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism on Drugs	Vienna (Austria)	4-5 March 2008	Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
EU-LAC Expert Seminar on Migration	Brussels	10-11 March 2008	HLWG on Migration and European Commission / COM
EU-LAC forum: Making Fiscal Policies work for social cohesion and the fight against poverty: Programme [39 KB] (11/03/08) Conclusions [16 KB]	Berlin (Germany)	12-13 March 2008	Germany, Peru, CEPAL
IV Euro-Latin American-Caribbean Civil Society Forum - IV Civil Society Social Forum [41 KB] declaration [70 KB]	Lima (Peru)	31 March - 1 April 2008	Mesa de articulación de Asociaciones Nacionales y Redes de ONG de América Latina y el Caribe
Inter-parliamentary Assembly EURO-LAT Second Ordinary Plenary Session	Lima (Peru)	29 April - 1 May 2008	European Parliament and LAC Parliaments
V Meeting of Civil Society Organisations from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean	Lima (Peru)	16-18 April 2008	European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) – LAC counterparts
EU-LAC Business Forum	Lima (Peru)	15 May 2008	CONFIEP
EU-LA Cultural Event	Lima (Peru)	15 April - 15 June 2008	Miraflores Municipality, French Embassy in Peru, European Commission