The President of the European Council, António Costa, and the Head of State of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, held a meeting this Monday to advance preparations for the summit of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which will take place next November in the Colombian city of Santa Marta.

Costa, who met with Petro on the sidelines of the Fourth UN International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, emphasized on social media that the meeting in Santa Marta will be “a key meeting to deepen the alliance” between the two blocs. This is the fourth high-level summit between the parties, more than two years after the one hosted by Brussels in July 2023.

Petro and Costa also took advantage of this meeting in the Andalusian capital to reaffirm shared values and advocate for strengthening areas of common interest, including “multilateralism, trade, climate action, energy, regional interconnections, and security.”