Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The conference, which took place on 14 May 2007 at the headquarters of the Social Economic Council (SER) attracted some 150 participants, including representatives from the diplomatic corps, the private sector, various ministries and NGOs. Several speakers from Latin America and Europe addressed the current political and economic developments in the region. Together with the audience they discussed how Europe and Latin America could cooperate more. Special attention was paid to forms of social economic dialogue between the state, employers and trade unions in Latin America and in Europe, including the Dutch example of the SER, an institutionalised form of dialogue at the national level between the three partners.

Representatives from the media discussed the apparent lack of interest on the part of the Dutch media in Latin America. As for the Dutch government, it was widely shared it could do much more to strengthen relations between The Netherlands and Latin America.

In a closing address Mr Jos van Gennip, President of the Society for International Development (SID) Netherlands Chapter and Vice President of NIMD, called on the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop an integrated policy on Latin America with input from other Ministries, civil society organisations, the private sector.

Key speakers at the conference included Mr Carlos Molina, Executive Secretary of the Federation of Central American Unions (CCT); Mr Ben van Schaik, former President of Daimler-Benz in Brazil); Mr Rogrigo Odio, former President of Costa Rica; Mr Daniel Kaufmann, Director of the Worldbank Insitute; and Mr Jorge Castañeda, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

The Latin America conference is an initiative of Encuentro Latino Europeo, a joint network of the following organisations: Society for International Development – Netherlands Chapter, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, NEDWORC (network of independent development experts), University of Utrecht, Latin American Film Festival Utrecht, Plataforma Latinoamericana en Holanda, CLAT-Netherlands, Cordaid, Netherlands Latin American Business Council, Eduardo Frei Foundation, Socires (Society and Responsibility) and NIMD.