On 17 October 2007 the second IBSA Summit was held in Pretoria, South Africa, between the heads of state of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA). Parallel to the summit meeting, FRIDE, in close cooperation with the FES office in Brussels, launched an initial dialogue between IBSA and representatives of the EU.
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After an opening session with Brazilian, Indian and South African experts in Madrid, a two day event was held in Brussels bringing together EU officials and experts with a group of high-level academics from the three participating countries.
Finally, several participants stressed that IBSA offers broad opportunities for regionalism, particularly with regards to integration, democracy, regional leadership and fragile states. At the same time, IBSA creates a new and innovative platform for closer links with the EU.
Some participants suggested opening a regular IBSA-EU dialogue forum on different topics of common interest such as security and peace missions, the UN system, China as a rival or partner, Africa as a platform for common action, the WTO Doha round, regional integration and democracy promotion.
The organisers thereby underlined the opportunity for further exploration of a common agenda between IBSA and the EU based on their strong commitment to democracy, peace and development.