On September 12th and 13th, the Atlantic Council held the first meeting of its Transatlantic Task Force on Latin America, a brand new initiative at the Council co-chaired by former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar and Senator Christopher Dodd, with Atlantic Council Board Director Adrienne Arsht as honorary chair.
Top Latin American experts from the United States, Europe, and Latin America gathered for an off-the-record workshop to address the strategic importance of a trilateral partnership between the three regions. Participants discussed a number of opportunities and challenges affecting this partnership, focusing on five critical areas: trilateral trade and investment ties, natural resources, public security and transnational crime, human capital and entrepreneurship, and the transatlantic community of values.
Task force members present at the workshop included Benita Ferrero-Waldner, president of the EU-LAC Foundation and former European commissioner, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, former prime minister of Peru, Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Center for International Development at Harvard, and Atlantic Council Board Directors Ana Palacio, member of the Consejo de Estado of Spain, Brian Henderson, senior advisor to Espírito Santo Financial Group S.A., and Paula Dobriansky, distinguished national security chair with the US Naval Academy. The Spanish, EU, and Mexican ambassadors also participated in the discussions. The workshop was generously hosted by Deutsche Bank in Washington, DC.
Following this workshop, the Council’s Transatlantic Task Force on Latin America will continue to examine the trilateral relationship between Latin America, Europe, and the United States with the aim of establishing a new era of dialogue and partnership between political, business, and opinion leaders. After examining the current state and potential of the relationship, the task force will produce a report in early 2013 with policy recommendations for leaders and policymakers in all three regions. The task force was made possible with the initiative and support of the task force’s Honorary Chair and Atlantic Council Board Director Adrienne Arsht.