Further regions from Latin America and the Caribbean have been selected to cooperate with regional European counterparts on mutual challenges as part of the IUC inter-regional cooperation programme. These partnerships will focus on local and regional development, increasing research and innovation opportunities, and meeting local needs in a sustainable way.
The following pairings have been agreed:
    Paraná (Brazil) and Valência (Spain)
    RAPE (Colombia) and Ideon-Skåne (Sweden)
    Área Metropolitana do Vale do Aburrá (Colombia) and Nord-Est Rumani (Romania)
    Piura (Peru) and Emilia-Romagna (Italy)
    Arequipa (Peru) and Podlaskie (Poland)
    Salta (Argentina) and Alentejo (Portugal)
    Puebla (Mexico) and the Federal State of Styria (Austria)
    Córdoba (Argentina) and Castilla y León (Spain)
    Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) and Ostrobothnia (Finland)
Three pairings were established last year: CIOESTE (Brazil) and Bielsko-Biała (Poland); Chihuahua (México) and Cantabria (Spain); Bogotá-Cundinamarca (Colombia) and Lazio (Italy).
Each of the new region-to-region pairings will soon hold a kickoff meeting to explore needs and challenges and to choose their priority areas for the cooperation.
Further regions will be selected to join the pairing programme in the coming months.