On 21 November 2016, a meeting was held in Paris between the Director of European Institute of International Studies, Dr. Mario Torres Jarrin and the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
Photo (From left to right): Dr. Mario Torres Jarrín, Director of European Institute of International Studies, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and Josefina Álvarez, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Dominican Republic to UNSESCO.
Dr. Torres made a presentation of the European Institute of International Studies to the Director-General. He described the different actions of the Institute, such as its academic programs, research chairs, leadership programs, as well as its actions related to the cooperation between the European Union – Latin American and the Caribbean, in particular in areas such as higher education. For example:
– The Meeting of Nordic Stakeholders. Nordic Perspectives on Strengthening Higher Education, Research and Innovation Cooperation with Latin American and the Caribbean. The meeting was held in Stockholm on 2-3 June 2016, and was organized by the European Institute of International Studies (EIIS) in cooperation with the Government Offices of Sweden, the FinCEAL project (Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Europe and the LAC Region) and supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland. Its objectives were:
– to share information on each Nordic country’s current state of higher education and scientific cooperation and future priorities
– to discuss the challenges, best practices and potential synergies in collaborating with Latin American institutions
– to map areas in which Nordic cooperation could be strengthened, and to envision concrete ways to move forward
– to increase awareness of the EU-CELAC Academic Summit and the EU-CELAC Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation (JIRI) as potential platforms for Nordic-Latin American cooperation
– to agree and adopt joint proposals between the Nordic countries for the next Preparatory Seminar of the 3rd EU-CELAC Academic Summit (2017), to be held in Stockholm on 6-7 October 2016.
– The Second Preparatory Seminar of the III Academic Summit EU-CELAC. Organized by European Institute of International Studies, in partnership with the Executive Secretariat of the EU-CELAC Permanent Academic Forum and the EU-LAC Foundation, and also with the collaboration of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden and Stockholm University. This seminar was held in Stockholm on 6-7 October 2016.
The mission of this Preparatory Seminar was to advance in the implementation of the Euro-Latin American and Caribbean Common Area for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.
The seminar has two specific objectives: the first, to work on the lines of action established in the Brussels Declaration, presented in the II EU-CELAC Academic Summit 2015, and the 2015-2017 Action Plan approved by the II EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government 2015. The second, to formulate new action proposals for the III CELAC-EU Summit of Heads of State and Government 2017.
Mario Torres and Josefina Álvarez, they gave the conclusions of the First and Second Preparatory Seminar for the III EU-CELAC Academic Summit to the Director-General of UNESCO. The three representatives exchanged opinions and ideas about education and cooperation between Europe and Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Finally, Dr. Torres as Director of the European Institute of International Studies proposed to the Director-General of UNESCO a collaboration between their respective institutions.
