Interuniversity Institute for the Relations between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (IRELAC)

The “Institut Interuniversitaire pour les Relations entre l’Europe, l’Amérique Latine et les Caraïbes” – IRELAC” (Interuniversity Institute for the Relations between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean) is a non-profit research organization under Belgian law open to the universities and research organizations in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Its 40 members form an international network of complementary interdisciplinary experts in analyzing the relations and cooperation between the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean region. It provides an experimented expertise and analytic capacity on socio-economic and policy-oriented issues, especially on the processes of regional integration, academic bi-regional cooperation, local development, social inclusion and macroeconomic situation of each country, focusing on the interplay of economic, political, social and environmental issues.

IRELAC is especially oriented to academic cooperation between European and CELAC area universities, and has been actively involved in the EU-ECLAC Academic Summits of Santiago 2013 and Brussels 2015, being the organizer of the last one. It organizes researches and seminars related to these issues and addressing post-graduate students, researchers, civil employees of the European Commission and Belgian Ministries, as well as to diplomats.