19/11/2013
The President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez-Molina, stressed the importance of social dialogue during the inauguration of the first day of the meeting of the Economic and Social Councils (ESC) of Latin America and Europe.
Mesa presidencial en el taller organizado en GuatemalaPresidential table at the workshop held in Guatemala
The meeting taking place in Antigua, Guatemala, is organised by the FIIAPP as part of the EUROsociALprogramme with the support of the AECID’s Training Centre; it offers a meeting point for sharing best practices and experiences regarding the importance of social dialogue in Latin America and Europe.
In his inaugural speech, Otto Pérez-Molina, President of Guatemala, stated: “We all lose when there is conflict; we have to strive to build a consensus through dialogue.” Stella Zervoudaki, the Ambassador of the European Union in Guatemala, Manuel Lejarreta Lobo, the Spanish Ambassador, the Ministries of Economy and Employment, the Italian Ambassador, and the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Brazilian Embassy also attended the inauguration.
Representatives of the ESC of various European and Latin American countriesparticipated in the first day of the workshop; there were speeches by Gustavo Porras, President of the ESC of Guatemala; Soledad Córdova, Secretary-General of the ESC of Spain; and Ignacio Soleto, Coordinator of the Technical Unit of Public Finances, Democratic Institutions and Social Dialogue of EUROsociAL/FIIAPP.
At this meeting, participants will present the EUROsociAL activities conducted in 2013, share experiences of the ESC in Latin America and Europe, and discuss how to strengthen and promote the Economic and Social Councils Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (CESALC).
EUROsociAL II is a European Commission regional technical cooperation programme for social cohesion in Latin America. Social cohesion is one of the main priorities of the strategic relationship between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.
