6 October 2008: A bi-regional EU-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) forum convened in Paris, France, on 6 October 2008, to address the challenges of globalization and its effect on the economy, social cohesion and the environment. Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, addressed the forum, highlighting that some countries in Latin America and its citizens “and particularly the extreme poor, are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.”

She emphasized World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s call to move forward with a global partnership between developed and developing nations to improve environmental management while fostering economic development, and thanked the EU countries for significant contributions to new large-scale concessional financing mechanisms, such as the multibillion dollar Climate Investment Funds, which enable multilateral development banks to support clean technology investments and the transition to low-carbon growth paths. The forum was jointly organized by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Institute of the Americas and the Inter-American Development Bank. [World
Bank Press Release] [EU-LAC Forum Website]