INTERREGIONAL DIALOGUE PROCESS

ABOUT

The Interregional Dialogues process was created to address a central tension: an international architecture that continues to operate with hierarchies from a bygone era: eroded multilateral mechanisms, agendas set by a handful of centers, and regions invited to participate but not always on equal terms.

It is not about abandoning multilateralism. It is about renewing it from its core principles: upholding what guarantees peace, predictability, and common rules; and transforming what still perpetuates asymmetries in voice, funding, and decision-making.

The Interregional Dialogue Process is a space where regions that were once treated as either senders or receivers now recognize each other as partners. A space where there is no single “South” or “North,” but rather many “Souths” and “Norths.” A space where the agenda is not dictated from above but is built together.

TWO PILLARS. ONE POLITICAL RESPONSE.

Education and Development: Education, research, and innovation are not peripheral sectors. They are the political infrastructure of development. They are agents of development. They build capacity, generate knowledge, and bridge the gaps between science, policy, and implementation.

Multilateralism, Trade, and Integration: Trade, economic integration, and multilateral governance cannot be sustained without knowledge. Without education, without research, and without actors capable of negotiating on equal terms, there can be no lasting integration or renewed multilateralism.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

01

Reimagining cooperation

Political and institutional innovation is essential to generate transformative impact and turn dialogue into concrete pathways for action.

02

Multilingualism
as a policy

Cooperation begins by listening in the language of others. It is not just translation; it is recognition, reciprocity, and the plural circulation of knowledge.

03

Universities as strategic actors

Universities generate public value and act as bridges between knowledge, public policy, and territories.

04

Real polycentrism

Multiple poles from which to shape thinking on development and cooperation, without a single predefined agenda.

05

Women at the centre

There is no just development without women’s full participation, leadership, and enabling conditions in education, science, and innovation.

06

Renewed multilateralism

Strengthening and updating multilateralism through interregional cooperation by linking it with regional capacities and implementation agendas.

The HISTORY OF the Interregional Dialogue PROCESS

Since its inception, the Interregional Dialogue has developed as a collaborative process bringing together partners from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe. All editions have been developed in partnership with and with the support of the African Union, together with university networks and regional partners.

  • First Phase: Conceptual and Political Construction (2020–2022)
  • Focused on defining the framework, bringing together the founding actors, and producing the first public launch in Barcelona, where the Dialogue took institutional shape with the support of the Government of Catalonia, the Argentine Presidency of CELAC, and the Forum for Sustainable Development in Higher Education.
  • Second Phase: Institutionalisation (2023–2024)
  • Marked by the first two plenary dialogues in Buenos Aires and Addis Ababa, where the process evolved from a statement of intent into a living mechanism, with signed agreements, activated networks, and projects underway. The Addis Ababa Dialogue, held at the African Union headquarters in the framework of the AU Year of Education 2024, consolidated the institutional alliance between OBREAL, the AUC, and the AAU as the core of the process.
  • Third Phase: Operational Consolidation (2025–2027)
  • Launched in Bogotá and projected towards Rabat and beyond; this phase focuses on transforming shared principles into governance structures, action plans, and sustainable financing. It also aims to expand the Dialogue’s geographical scope, to the Arab World, China, and the Caribbean, and to fully incorporate a chapter on Trade, Integration, and the reform of multilateralism.