This partnership, announced in Bogota, is a milestone for digital cooperation between the two regions and lays the foundations for advancing an inclusive digital transformation that puts people at the centre of the policy dialogue. The event brought together European and Latin American representatives at the highest level to consolidate a shared digital agenda between the two regions.

"I think it is quite obvious that we live in an era of digital rivalry. What is the model we are building on? Governance regarding the use of technology is essential for the development of our societies. In that context, both the EU and LAC want to be able to take sovereign decisions on how technology should shape our economies, how it should shape our societies and how it should be decided within our democratic systems," announced Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Vice-President for Digital and Competition.

"This partnership will allow us to boost the economic development and social welfare of our countries through the possibility of generating concrete projects and investments in our digital economies, particularly in digital infrastructure, in innovation, in strengthening the skills of our citizens in digital commerce and in cybersecurity," said Sandra Urrutia, Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Colombia.

[Link]Carme Artigas, Spain's Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

"The democratic rights of citizens must be protected both online and offline. We also want to intensify regulatory dialogue and cooperation to bridge the digital divide and foster sustainable development. In today's new geopolitical realities, these are crucial aspects to defend the dignity and freedom of every human being," said Josep Borrell, High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission.

The Digital-LAC Alliance helps to promote bi-regional partnerships and investments across the full spectrum of digital and space issues, and provide a flexible framework for high-level bi-regional dialogue and collaboration on the priority themes expressed by the participating countries.

"We are friends here because, in addition to sharing an economic strategy, we have principles and values that unite us," said Carme Artigas, Spanish Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence.

Throughout the day, the groundwork was laid for high-level digital policy dialogues and facilitating exchanges on a digital investment agenda involving the EU and the LAC private sector. A joint declaration to help strengthen a digital partnership that promotes an inclusive, people-centred digital transformation was also discussed.

Spanish Cooperation supports this alliance through public policies on digitalisation

The FIIAPP, the public policy arm of the Spanish Cooperation implements a European cooperation programme that directly supports this Digital Alliance through the strengthening of public policies on digitisation. To this end, FIIAPP leads the Digital Governance component and mobilises specialists from the Spanish Data Protection Agency.

The aim of the project is to improve the regulatory framework, harmonising regional and national digital policies and governance mechanisms, based on shared values and interests between the two regions.

The programme also addresses crucial aspects for digital transformation through work streams on cybersecurity, led by Expertise France, connectivity, led by the German agency GIZ or e-Governance, led by eGA.

One of the thematic priorities of the FIIAPP is the strengthening of digitalisation and connectivity in the countries where it works, having implemented more than 34 projects aligned with these objectives in the last few years.

Spain, a referent in the field of digitisation

Over the last decade, Spain has undertaken important regulatory reforms in eGovernment, modernising its public institutions and developing national legislation and procedures to bring them in line with the European digital ecosystem. According to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) published by the European Commission in 2022, which ranks the countries of the Union according to their level of digitisation, Spain is among the 10 countries that have made the most progress in terms of public digital services and connectivity.

"At the FIIAPP and the AEPD we are aware of the enormous potential of digitalisation and we believe that it should act as a catalyst to tackle inequality and promote social cohesion and the improvement of citizens' rights, in this case, in the Latin American region, with which Spain has historical and cultural ties of cooperation", says the programme specialist at the FIIAPP and head of the Technological Studies and Certifications Area of the AEPD, Rosario Heras.

Among the programme's objectives is the work to be done to overcome existing digital divides (rural/urban; gender divide; ageism) and to ensure that technological development does not generate new divides.

The aim is also to guarantee the proper use of data, which, according to the AEPD specialist, "can be used as a public good for government services and for this reason it is necessary to have a pre-existing regulatory framework that protects citizens' right to privacy". The challenge, according to Heras, is to develop a regulatory framework that facilitates public policy decision-making, on the one hand, and that favours transparency and the protection of citizens' privacy, on the other.

All of this, differentiating the risks faced by certain groups in the digital era in order to determine specific protection for these people, such as minors.