Chile is one of the EU’s key like-minded partners in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, with a well-established economy and democracy. The 2002 general Association Agreement (AA) governs the EU-Chile relationship. Negotiations to modernise it are ongoing.
Chile and the EU signed an Agreement for Scientific and Technology Cooperation in September 2002, which entered into force in January 2007 for an initial period of 5 years (renewed by tacit agreement in January 2017 for another 5 years). Chile ranked third out of the LAC countries in terms of participation in Horizon 2020, after Brazil and Argentina. Globally it ranked 11th among all non-EU countries not associated to the programme.
At the 8th Joint Steering Committee (set up under the above-mentioned Agreement) meeting both delegations reaffirmed the importance of science, technology and innovation cooperation in addressing shared economic, environmental and societal challenges within the context of the overall EU-Chile relations.