European Council President António Costa delivers a powerful message at the EU–CELAC 2025 Summit in Santa Marta, Colombia: “The future must belong to everyone.”
Costa emphasizes the importance of multilateral cooperation between Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean in addressing global challenges such as climate change, inequality, and threats to democracy.
During his speech, he highlights achievements in trade, investment, digital transformation, and climate resilience, while calling for dialogue, unity, and collective action in an increasingly volatile world.
00:00President Gustavo Petro, distinguished heads of state and government,
00:09honorable ministers, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to inaugurate,
00:14together with President Petro, this fourth summit of the Latin American and Caribbean
00:18community with the European Union. I thank President Petro in Colombia for hosting this
00:32summit in this beautiful city of Santa Marta. It is a pleasure for me, and I believe it is a
00:41pleasure for all of us, to come here to speak with you.
00:48First of all, I would like to greet the delegates from the 60 countries and international organizations
00:54present here. I would like to express my solidarity with the countries most affected by Hurricane
01:04Maliza, which has caused so much destruction in its path across the Caribbean. In a multipolar
01:16world, bi-regional cooperation between Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean is more important
01:21than ever.
01:28And the truth is that in my long political career I have never seen so many exchanges between
01:32our two regions. It took us eight years to hold a summit after the one in 2015. Now, only two years
01:46have passed since the last one in 2023 Umbrellas.
01:50Since this last summit, we have increased our contacts at all levels with more than 600 high-level
02:04visits between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.
02:07We have convened ministerial meetings, met in sub-regional and bilateral formats.
02:25Just during the last United Nations General Assembly, foreign ministers and chancellors held
02:30two meetings in New York.
02:40We have thus strengthened our cooperation in the areas of energy, climate resilience,
02:45digitalization in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking,
02:48as well as in the field of health.
02:50Our trade exchanges have also increased in recent years by more than 45%.
03:03Since 2013, we are expanding our trade agreement base like never before, covering Latin America.
03:15The European Union is also the leading foreign investor in the region with more than 800
03:30billion euros in direct investment.
03:37It has been the European Union's investment program since its creation.
03:41The global gateway has already mobilized over 31 billion euros to drive the green,
03:52digital and social transitions.
03:59Today, there are already over 100 concrete projects underway.
04:03Investments to promote regional electricity interconnections to advance.
04:25Digital connectivity, particularly in remote areas via satellite, and facilitate access to
04:30supercomputers for the development of artificial intelligence.
04:33To develop the sargassum value chain in the Caribbean, to strengthen local capacities for
04:38the production of vaccines and medicines, to accelerate our partnerships on critical raw
04:42materials in the region in a clean and sustainable way, and also investments to better prepare for
04:47and cope with extreme weather events.
04:49But of course, apart from all these investments that boost our relationship, there is, of course, also the human factor.
04:54The exchanges and contacts of millions of our citizens who benefit from the shared languages, cultures and values in the human context of the human experience are the same.
05:01The exchanges and the human context that give real meaning to our relationship.
05:02The exchanges and contacts of millions of our citizens who benefit from the shared
05:06languages, cultures and values in the human context that give real meaning to our relationship.
05:13The exchanges and contacts of millions of our citizens.
05:14The exchanges and contacts of millions of our citizens.
05:18The exchanges and contacts of millions of our citizens who benefit from the shared languages, cultures and values in the human contacts that give real meaning to our relationship.
05:25Dear colleagues, we are gathered here today with a single purpose, to ensure that this cooperation is strengthened and enriched, to make our natural bond even stronger, to reinforce our complementarities and to bridge our differences so that we can grow together and protect ourselves.
05:54We can grow together and protect each other in an increasingly unstable and volatile world.
06:01And we must do it, and we must do it together because together we are stronger and the dangers of the current era are out there.
06:21It has been days.
06:26We live in an era of competition between global actors, shifting alliances and economic pressures.
06:36We can see the threats posed by climate change, such as extreme weather events.
06:43Most recently the destructive Hurricane Malisa.
06:45The threats to democracy resulting from authoritarianism, growing inequality, violations of the rule of law and fundamental human rights, threats to international law and to the core values of the United Nations Charter such as sovereignty and territorial integrity.
07:06All this calls us to come together, to talk about everything and to achieve a joint response.
07:19That is why we are here, and I want to thank our teams who have worked very hard over the past few weeks so that together, different countries with very different ideological positions have achieved a common position on critical issues of the world's current situation.
07:44And this is truly a beacon to tell the world that despite all the diversity, together in a multilateral framework, talking to each other, listening to each other, we managed to achieve a common position.
08:08Well, 500 years ago, when this city of Santa Marta was founded, a new era was also being built, an era marked by conflict, fragmentation and division, when the power of force was what marked the pace of history.
08:32Today, here in Santa Marta, we meet to send a completely opposite message.
08:45We choose dialogue, not division.
08:51We choose cooperation, not confrontation.
08:55We choose partnership, not isolation.
09:02And in this multipolar world, which is ours, what is needed is a multilateral response.
09:10Yes.
09:12The future can only be built if we do it together.
09:16The future must belong to everyone, right?
09:21Or it will belong to no one.
09:24Thank you very much.
09:25Thank you very much, Mr. President Antonio Costa.
09:36Next up is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Mario Lubitkin.
09:43Mr. President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro.
09:47Mr. President of the Council of Europe, Antonio Costa.
09:55Ladies and gentlemen Presidents, Prime Ministers, Vice Presidents, Foreign Ministers, Representatives of International Organizations, Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends all, I would like to convey the congratulations of the President of Uruguay, Yamondi, to the Sister Republic of Colombia for organizing this successful, we can certainly call it, Summit LAC, European Union.
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