In the presence of Ms María Asunción Grases Galofré, President of the Pedro Grases Foundation.

Seminar on South American contemporary Historian, Pedro Grases

On the 26^th February, Egmont Institute organized with the cooperation of the IRELAC (Institut Interuniversitaire pour les Relations entre l’Union Européenne, l’Amérique latine et les Caraïbes) a seminar in tribute to the famous Venezuelan historian, Pedro Grases (1909 Spain-2004 Venezuela).  The seminar was held in the historical library of the Egmont Palace in Brussels.  Pedro Grases is certainly the most distinguished historian and researcher  in Latin America to this day.  Having studied the past history of the continent, he explains the present and prepares the future, in governance as well as regarding the rule of law and social integration.  He is often called the Andres Bello of the 20^th Century.  He was born in Spain in 1909, left his country as the Civil War was brewing, settled in Venezuela in 1937 and took the Venezuelan nationality in 1950.  He epitomizes the Spanish exile leaving his country to settle in South America, the land of milk and honey.    At the end of the seminar, the President of the Pedro Grases Foundation, María Asunción Grases Galofré, bestowed the works of her father to the Library of the Belgian Foreign Ministry.  The library is open to the public ; it has four departments : diplomatic, legal, African and development aid, and more than 300.000 books and documents.  Grases is the reference point of the ties which unite Europe to the South American Continent, the model of a shared cultural background and of common traditional values.    The seminar was set on the eve of the 8^th Summit between the EU and CELAC (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños) in Brussels in June 2015.  The European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean have enjoyed privileged relations since the first bi-regional Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1999, which established a strategic partnership. The two regions are natural partners linked by strong historical, cultural and economic ties and wish to cooperate closely on an international level whilst maintaining an intensive political dialogue at all levels – regional, sub regional and bilateral levels.

Christine Stevens, 2 mars 2015

Programa :

9.00 : Bienvenida

9.30 : Palabras de Bienvenida

9.40 : “Pedro Grases, vida y obra de un Euro-Americano”

10.00 : “El maestro Pedro Grases y su obra literaria”

11.00 : “Algunos aspectos de la herencia del humanista Pedro Grases”

11.40 : Ceremonia de entrega de la obra de Pedro Grases

12.00  : Vino de honor