European Commission Directorate General for Inte : Chile

Chile is one of South America's most stable and prosperous countries. It leads the Latin American region in human development, competitiveness, income per capita and economic performance. In May 2010, Chile became the first South-American nation to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Since July 2013, Chile is considered by the World Bank as a high-income economy and, hence, as a developed country. Due to its economic performance, Chile is considered as a 'graduated' country and therefore it is not eligible for EU bilateral cooperation under the financial exercise 2014-2020. However, Chile will remain eligible to participate in EU regional and thematic programmes. This provides an excellent opportunity to re-define together new forms of EU-Chile cooperation.

EU cooperation 2007-2013

The EU's development cooperation in Chile during 2007-2013 was financed though the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI). The bilateral cooperation portfolio comprised the social cohesion support programme (€10.25 million), the support for innovation and competitiveness programme (€9.3 million) and the strategic environmental assessment programme (€1 million).

During 2007-2013, Chile benefited from the EU thematic budget lines receiving €15 million funding for more than 40 cooperation actions in the fields of environment, human rights and democracy as well as for non-state actors and local authorities. Furthermore, since 2007 Chile has benefitted from the launching of local calls for funding micro-projects that enhanced both the dialogue among civil society organisations and national authorities on social cohesion issues and the promotion of vulnerable groups' human rights. The thematic priorities contained in these national calls took into consideration the concerns and interests expressed by civil society representatives during the 1 and the 2 meetings with Civil Society held in the framework of the EU-Chile Association Agreement.