The Diplomat
Digital literacy and the need to combat disinformation were highlighted at the “CELAC-EU. Civil Society”, held this week at the Fundación Ortega-Marañón and organised by Grupo Prestomedia.
With the sponsorship of Telefónica and the collaboration of the Rey Juan Carlos University and the media Aquí Europa and Canal Europa, the event included three thematic blocks on digitalisation, the strengthening of the international network and where we are heading in the dialogue between countries and generations.
The debates were held on the eve of the 3rd EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will take place in Brussels next week, and analysed issues such as knowledge, digitalisation and relations between different actors, sensibilities and cultures, as well as the challenges and opportunities presented by a revitalised bi-regional relationship.
The Rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Javier Ramos, opened the forum by asserting that cooperation between the EU and Latin America “is more necessary than ever”, in order to make progress on issues of digitisation, social inclusion and sustainability. He highlighted the fundamental role of the contributions that universities on both sides of the Atlantic can make on these issues.
Javi López, MEP and President of the Delegation of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, then spoke online to explain the key points of the Summit, the issues to be discussed and the importance of relations between Latin America and Europe. López stressed the need for an EU investment plan in Latin America to improve infrastructure, digitalisation and combat climate change.
He also mentioned the energy and food crisis, the reconstruction of multilateralism and sustainable development, among other issues, as items on the agenda for the 3rd EU-CELAC Summit.
The first block of debate, which addressed the issue of digitalisation as a generator of a common knowledge space, included the participation of Alberto Sánchez Campos, Vice-Rector for Digitalisation and Digital Education at the URJC; Luis Miguel Olivas, Director of Employability and Educational Innovation at Fundación Telefónica; and Paolo Budroni, representative of the EULiST Network of Universities and professor at the Technical University of Vienna. The experts agreed on the need to make progress in digital literacy and to combat misinformation.
On these two issues, Alberto Sánchez stressed that the key to digitalisation lies in training and not so much in infrastructures, and he stressed the importance of encouraging critical thinking, so that citizens can determine what is true and what is not.
Luis Miguel Olivas, for his part, indicated that in Spain, although there is a good digital infrastructure, it is still necessary to make progress in training in order to overcome the digital divide. He also stressed how “difficult” it is to combat misinformation and called for the responsible use of mobile phones and new technologies to be taught at an early age.
Paolo Budroni also advocated digital literacy, combating fake news and a science that generates trust.
In the second debate, which dealt with “Strengthening the international network: necessity, convenience or fashion”, Allen Jackson Sellers, Panamanian Ambassador to Spain; María Luisa Humanes, Vice-Rector for International Relations at the URJC; and Ramón Jáuregui, President of the Euroamerica Foundation, took part.
Ambassador Sellers stressed the need to deepen university exchange between the EU and Latin America, and added that digital tools are an important ally in academic exchange and training.
María Luisa Humanes stated that it is important to strengthen ties between the EU and Latin America with face-to-face meetings and to promote multilateralism, in order to strengthen links. She also called for the EU to transmit the “advantages” of the European digitalisation model.
In his speech, Ramón Jáuregui described the European and Spanish connection with Latin America as “important”, and stressed that Europe wants to take tools to America to combat the digital divide and to establish a common strategy on cybersecurity and digital ethics, although the latter is, he said, “utopian”, because “we compete with technology”.
In this block of debate on the irruption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in society, all the participants agreed that AI is here to stay. “It is not a passing fad,” said Jáuregui, concluding that “it is going to produce extraordinary results”.
The third and final thematic block dealt with “Dialogue between countries and generations: where are we going?”, with the participation of Donatella Montaldo, specialist in Relations with Multilateral Organisations at the OEI, Federico Buyolo, Cultural Director of the Ortega-Marañón Foundation, Francisco Fonseca, Professor of International Public and European Law at the University of Valladolid, and Elsa Arnáiz, President of Talent for the Future.
Donatella Montaldo stated that in multilateral relations, it is necessary to know how to listen and to reach compromises when there are common objectives. In these relations, she highlighted the important role of organisations.
Federico Buyolo expressed himself along the same lines, calling for dialogue in order to build “something new” in relations between countries, and pointed to the institutions as the ones responsible for generating these spaces for dialogue.
For his part, Francisco Fonseca advocated the capacity and willingness for dialogue and empathetic listening. According to him, agreements and disagreements must be reached in order to continue dialogue and construction.
Elsa Arnaiz defended disagreement and conflict in international relations and said that dialogue does not always translate into compromise.
The CEO of Prestomedia, Yago González, closed the forum by affirming that it is necessary to strengthen an international network such as the CELAC-EU summits and said that Prestomedia will not cease to create spaces in which to reflect on the relations between the European Union and Latin America.
