Clarems Endara: Integration is the path towards food security and energy integration in the region

For two days, the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Central American Integration System (SICA), together with the Association of Caribbean States (ACS); the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI); the Andean Community (CAN); the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) and the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), organized the meeting “Proposals for joint regional action: food security and energy” to discuss joint actions in these areas. 

The Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Clarems Endara, stressed the importance of this meeting as a contribution to the necessary convergence, in order to avoid duplication of efforts and provide concrete responses to the needs of Latin American and Caribbean countries. 

“In this demanding socio-economic context, integration is an urgent mandate, because it is the only way to respond to the challenges and improve the quality of life in our region. This two-day meeting allowed us to analyse scenarios, identify best practices, share methodologies, and enhance convergence to design proposals that facilitate decision-making. Only integration will allow us to advance towards food security and energy integration,” the Permanent Secretary said. 

“We have a mandate from our membership, contained in the Work Programme for 2022-2026, but it is also part of the founding purpose of SELA, which is to promote intra-regional cooperation as a permanent system of consultation for the integration and development of Latin America and the Caribbean, and we are committed to that,” he said. 

La conformación de mesas de trabajo técnicas en las áreas de Seguridad Alimentaria y Energía que permitan a los mecanismos de integración regional para responder a las necesidades de ALC, es el siguiente paso tras fructíferas jornadas de trabajo conjunto. pic.twitter.com/AJaJJBcfVC

— Clarems Endara (@claremsendara) April 21, 2023

On Thursday 20 April, the Secretariats of the integration mechanisms met to discuss “Food security and challenges for the convergence and cooperation of agri-food systems,” analysing the status of food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the different models and methodologies to measure food vulnerability in the region. 

On Friday 21 April, the meeting “Regional energy integration: challenges for convergence and cooperation in the energy sector” was held, with the aim of identifying points of common interest among Latin American and Caribbean integration schemes for cooperation and exchange of best practices in the energy sector. 

Keynote speeches by Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and Andrés Rebolledo, Executive Secretary of the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE), guided the debate, which facilitated the identification of scenarios, weaknesses, and strengths in terms of food security and energy integration in the region. 

The meeting “Proposals for joint regional action: food security and energy” is part of the alliance established by the integration mechanisms on 24 January, during the VII Summit of CELAC, and is a result of the Forum “Responding to the challenges of integration for the development of Latin America and the Caribbean. Proposals from regional and subregional integration mechanisms,” organized by SELA and CELAC last December in Buenos Aires, Argentina.