A word from the EU-LAC foundation

The EU-LAC Foundation is delighted to offer the publication Food security: challenges and opportunities for European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean relations. It is a product of the collaboration between the EU-LAC Foundation, the Centre for Asia-Pacific and India Studies (CEAPI) at the Tres de Febrero National University (UNTREF) in Argentina, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in the framework of our organisation’s sixth annual call for EU-LAC co-organised events on topics relevant to the strategic partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The events co-organised by the EU-LAC Foundation have taken place every year since 2018. They seek to create spaces of reflection, debate and exchange on global and/or sectoral issues that are relevant to the strategic partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean. Through the call, the EU-LAC Foundation teams up with bi-regional consortiums comprising civil society organisations, academic institutions, business partnerships and networks relevant to the organisation of these events. 

The project of which this publication forms part was chosen for its capacity to promote dialogue and cooperation on the subject of food security, its challenges on a global level and, consequently, the opportunities and projections regarding relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean on the matter. There are three stages to the project: the first is this publication, followed by the presentation of its main conclusions at an international conference in Barcelona with the participation of the authors of the various chapters. The third stage consists of a digital publication to catalogue the chief developments and recommendations of the conference. 

The subject chosen for the project addresses the repercussions of the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the conflict in Ukraine, which highlight the need to tackle the challenges related to food security stemming from the fall in the supply of agricultural products and a rise in global prices. Low-income countries have borne the brunt of this crisis, and it has also affected the most vulnerable populations of Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe. 

Against this backdrop, at a summit held in Brussels in June 2023 the heads of state and government of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States agreed to step up dialogue to tackle the multiple crises of our times together, including food security, poverty, inequalities, supply chain disruptions and rising inflation. Moreover, the authorities at bi-regional level have pledged to jointly promote global agendas in multilateral institutions. These agendas include food and energy security to bolster the role of the multilateral system in the search for an inclusive global governance that is respectful of international law. We hope this publication will be useful. 

EU-LAC Foundation