The Italy-Latin America and Caribbean Conference is the main forum for political dialogue, which meets every two years, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with the Italian-Latin American Institute (IILA). The first edition was held in 2003 and this 10th edition will be held on 25 and 26 October 2021.
The Conference is a functional tool for revitalising the Italian business sytem and its relations with the Latin American continent, an opportunity to take stock of the 10-year plus relationship between Italy and the individual countries, as well as an effective and consolidated foreign policy tool in Italy’s relations with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The 10th edition this year will take place at a time of Italy’s leading role on the international scene, as President of the G20 and partner of the United Kingdom for COP26. It will be held in the run-up to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome on 30-31 October and the COP26 Summit in November. In this particularly delicate year, due to the economic and political events caused by the pandemic that has hit all countries hard, the Conference will be an extraordinary opportunity to build a much-needed post-pandemic strategic alliance, to further strengthen relations with the countries of the subcontinent and to deepen the themes and priorities of the Italian G20 Presidency.
The theme of the 10th Conference will be “People, Planet, Prosperity. The future of an ancient partnership” and will take place over a day and a half. More precisely, on Monday 25 October, the final “special event” dedicated to the “Falcone-Borsellino Programme”, implemented in partnership with the Italo-Latin American Institute (IILA), will be presented. An initiative providing for training and legal and security technical assistance in favour of several Latin American countries.
On 26 October, the Conference will be opened by a plenary session aimed at framing the themes of the Conference within the broader context of the G20 under the Italian Presidency. Compared to previous editions, the participants will be divided into three simultaneous panels, also linked to specific objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, corresponding to the three “P’s” of People, Planet and Prosperity in order to encourage interaction.
- The first panel (People) will focus on “Restoring social cohesion: a person-centred recovery”.
- The second panel (Planet), on the other hand, will have as its focus “Starting afresh from the sea and the climate: coastal and port cities at the heart of the recovery”.
- The third panel (Prosperity) will focus on “Building on sustainability: the circular economy and energy transition at the heart of the recovery”.
The speakers at the Conference will have the skills and expertise to steer the discussion between the different panels, and a case study will also be defined for each panel to be presented in video format.
In the afternoon there will be a closing plenary session on the outcomes of the discussions of each panel and a Final Declaration will be adopted to wrap up the event.