The Permanent Secretariat carried out a series of regional meetings from 20 to 22 July 2009 to analyze economic relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the People's Republic of China, the Republic of India and the Russian Federation.

At that time, as set forth in the conclusions and recommendations of those meetings, a weakening of economic and commercial ties was anticipated in the short term as a result of the international economic crisis, but at the same time emphasis was made on the high potential of economic relations between the Russian Federation and the countries of the region.

As part of the recommendations, the delegates of the Regional Meeting to analyze economic relations with the Russian Federation recognized “the need for SELA to continue with its analyses on economic relations between the Russian Federation and Latin America and the Caribbean.” In their opinion, “the Permanent Secretariat of SELA should support its Member States in their efforts to strengthen economic relations with the Russian Federation, by convening meetings for discussion among Latin American and Caribbean governments as regards the advantages and potentials to expand economic relations with that Euro-Asian nation.”

In compliance with those recommendations, the Permanent Secretariat prepared, in August 2011, the document “Recent developments in economic relations between the Russian Federation and Latin America and the Caribbean: Institutional and cooperation mechanisms for strengthening relations,” which contains a number of suggestions regarding the various options of the countries in the region to strengthen their economic relations with the Russian Federation.

As a follow-up to this important issue for the region, the Permanent Secretariat convened the Regional Meeting on recent developments in economic relations between the Russian Federation and Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held on 21 and 22 May 2012 at the headquarters of the Permanent Secretariat.