Between October and November 2020, the cycle of webinars of the High-Level Seminar on the determinants of development in Central America in the framework of the Central American integration process and the EU-CA Association Agreement was held. The Seminar took place in the framework of the Living Integration from the Academy initiative of the ATEPECA project – Technical Assistance Programme for the Strategic Engagement of Central America, funded by the European Union and developed by Fundación ETEA, DEvelopment Institute of Universty Loyola.
The aim of this initiative is to bring the parameters of the debate on the region’s future between governments and SICA bodies and institutions closer to the terms of the debate in academia and research centres.
This initiative for contemplation and debate attempts to foment pertinent and useful reflection that serves two purposes: On the one hand, to illustrate the need to connect the academic research agenda with the regional development agenda of the SICA countries. On the other hand, to show how critical it is to integrate the contributions that universities and research centres are making into a pragmatic framework for analysis with a regional focus thatshows the medium and long-term challenges lying ahead for the region and its integration process.
The webinars covered Central American reality from the perspective of a regional focus on development that looks beyond the regional integration process itself. The starting point of the analysis were the factors that determine the development of the region (Webinar 1) and the pillars of the development agenda (Webinar 2). It placed the agenda of the region within the framework of its relationships as well as the global scenario of the 21st century (Webinar 3). The seminar ended with an analysis of the economic development patterns of the region (Webinar 4) and a joint reflection of all the points of debate which led to the conclusions presented here.
The forum was aimed at channelling the debate of renowned researchers from think-tanks, research centres, universities and international organisations in the field of Central American integration. A total of 50 researchers from across the region were invited to participate in the series of webinars. The average attendance in each webinar was 30 participants.
The conclusions of the seminar – in English and Spanish – can be found in the following documents:
- Informe de sistematización y conclusiones del Seminario “Determinantes del desarrollo de Centroamérica en el marco del proceso de integración regional y del Acuerdo de Asociación con la UE”
- Systematisation report and conclusions of the Seminar “Determinants of development in Central America within the framework of regional integration and the Association Agreement with the EU”
Recordings of the sessions (Spanish) are available at the following links:
