EU-LAC Digital Alliance Policy Dialogues

Project

Published on January 22, 2026

Project start date: January 1, 2023

Status
Ongoing
Project end date: December 31, 2027
Financing amount (Euro): 2.06m
Country and region: The Americas, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay
Funders: European Union
Partners: Spanish Cooperation Agency (FIAP), e-Governance Academy (eGA), German Cooperation Agency - GIZ, International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCAI)

The EU-LAC Digital Alliance Policy Dialogues project provides support to policymakers in Latin America and the Caribbean for developing digital and cybersecurity policies.

An incomplete digital transition in Latin America and the Caribbean

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are struggling to accelerate their digital transition but are hindered by complex and unsuitable regulations and by an insufficient supply of digital training. These obstacles are slowing down the adoption of new technologies in businesses and administrations, thus limiting their efficiency and competitiveness.

Yet, an inclusive and sustainable digital transition is critical for driving growth, boosting productivity, and attracting investment. Without progress in this area, these countries risk falling further behind, which could jeopardise their economic and social development in the long term.

The EU-LAC Digital Alliance: European action for the digital transition

With the creation of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance as part of its Global Gateway Strategy, the European Union has set itself the goal of accelerating the region’s digital transition and boosting the EU’s role as a partner and key player in the field. The aim is to promote a sustainable, inclusive, transparent, and environmentally sensitive digital transition.

In this context, Expertise France has been entrusted with the implementation of two projects:

the EU-LAC Digital Alliance Policy Dialogues, which are presented here;
the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator on business-to-business partnerships in the digital innovation sector.

Find out more about the EU LAC Digital Accelerator

Building EU-LAC Digital Alliance Policy Dialogues

As part of enhanced digital sovereignty, the EU-LAC Digital Alliance’s policy dialogues seek to harmonise regulations in order to facilitate exchanges between the countries of the region. They also seek to:

train people and ensure a highly skilled workforce;
develop secure and resilient digital infrastructure;
support the digital transformation of the public and private sectors in general.

The EU-LAC Digital Alliance’s policy dialogues include connectivity, data governance, e-governance, and cybersecurity. It is for the actions related to this last point that Expertise France has been commissioned.

Expertise France’s role in developing policies related to cybersecurity

Cybersecurity ensures the integrity and resilience of a country’s communication systems and economic infrastructure, and it protects sensitive information. For these reasons, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean need to develop comprehensive cybersecurity strategies covering both technical development and enhancement of their regulatory framework. This includes identification and protection of sensitive data, development of appropriate security measures and their proper application, implementation of crisis management strategies, and development of international cooperation in this area.

Expertise France supports countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in developing their cybersecurity legislation by building the capacities of stakeholders, including policymakers and specialised institutions, so that they can design sustainable, secure, and inclusive digital policies and regulations.

This requires the implementation of policy dialogues: two sectoral dialogues on cybersecurity were held in 2024 and 2025, in Santo Domingo and Paris.