20/05/2026
The Interregional Dialogue Process is gaining momentum: the Barcelona meeting, with representatives from 5 regions, confirms that the process is not only delivering results but also expanding.
Around the table: the African Union Commission, the Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC (Uruguay), the Association of African Universities, the Association of Arab Universities اتحاد الجامعات العربية, the DAAD, the VLIRUOS, the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education, and CAPES. Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Arab world, China. University associations, cooperation agencies, and regional bodies. A diversity of regions and sectors that is, precisely, what the process is all about.
The meeting allowed us to make significant progress. We identified shared priorities for the coming months (science diplomacy, academic mobility, climate change, energy, artificial intelligence, rural cooperation) and we took stock of the results the process has generated so far. With a clear commitment: to produce more, and to do so with more regions, more voices, and more languages involved.
Because interregional cooperation only makes sense when it recognizes the plurality of institutions, academic traditions, and knowledge systems involved. And when regions participate not as recipients of external agendas, but as actors that define priorities, produce knowledge, and build capacities.
More details on the meeting and the next steps of the process on our website: https://obreal.org/blog/2026/05/20/interregional-partners-barcelona-higher-education-cooperation/