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International Partnerships
News announcement21 March 2023Directorate-General for International Partnerships

Global Gateway: EU – Latin America and Caribbean high-level pharmaceutical forum to promote local manufacturing

EU-LAC High Level Pharmaceutical Forum

Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen and Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton host today the EU – Latin America and the Caribbean high-level forumSharing pharmaceutical innovations” under the Global Gateway partnership between the two regions on manufacturing vaccines, medicines and health technologies and strengthening health systems.

Organised in hybrid format in Brussels and online, the forum brings together political leaders, technical experts, pharmaceutical companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and financing institutions from Latin America and the Caribbean and the EU to explore new ways to collaborate and improve access to quality, safe, effective and affordable pharmaceutical innovations across the two regions.

Commissioner Urpilainen said: “As a lesson learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU is committed with its new Global Health Strategy to tackle health inequalities and promote strategic autonomy. Today, as part of the EU's Global Gateway, we take major steps to develop further the EU – Latin America and the Caribbean partnership launched last year in the field of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, to ultimately improve the lives and livelihoods of millions on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Commissioner Breton said: “We have been successful in creating new partnerships between vaccine manufacturers and suppliers of key materials. Our ambition is to extend such partnerships to Latin America and the Caribbean. With Europe’s strong industrial base, more than 2,000 pharmaceutical companies in Latin America and the Caribbean, and high-quality pharmaceutical R&D on both continents, the opportunities for collaboration are manifold.”

The forum takes place in the lead-up to the Summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (CELAC) in July 2023 and is one of the bi-regional events of the CELAC-EU roadmap 2022–2023. It underpins the intercontinental ‘matchmaking’ for business-to-business meetings between pharmaceutical entities that will take place on 27–31 March.

Opened by Commissioner Urpilainen at 15.00 and closed by Commissioner Breton at 19.15, the forum consists of three panels:

  • Health priorities, ambitions, programmes for an enabling environment at 15.30
  • Private sector and pharmaceutical innovations at 17.15
  • Financing opportunities at 18.15

The event will be livestreamed.

Details

Publication date
21 March 2023
Author
Directorate-General for International Partnerships