"During the CELAC-Africa High-Level Forum held in Bogota on Friday, African representatives and international trade experts emphasised the need to strengthen logistics, trade routes, and digital trade links between Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. The director of the Shirley Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, Jan Yves Remy, warned of the urgency of reinforcing maritime logistics and the resilience of supply chains between both regions. "Global powers are recalibrating their strategies, projecting influence through our ports, digital corridors, commodity markets and air routes across our regions," said Remy. She also stressed that Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa cannot rely solely on traditional routes, arguing that future integration must be supported by digital trade, interoperable payment systems and stronger data governance, which would allow both regions to fully harness their demographic potential. "By 2030, one in three young people will be African, and Latin America and the Caribbean are adding millions of digitally native youth to their labour force," she added. For her part, the Executive Vice President of the African Export-Import Bank, Kanayo Awani, underlined that cooperation between both regions responds to a concrete economic reality, noting that bilateral trade remains low due to a lack of connectivity between the two blocs. "In this evolving context, Africa and the countries of the South cannot afford to remain peripheral and disconnected. Together, our regions represent over 1.7 billion people, abundant natural resources and some of the most dynamic growth markets of the 21st century," the executive said. In his remarks, the President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Serge Ekue, highlighted the importance of advancing towards a new African financial architecture that strengthens South-South cooperation. "We strongly believe that cooperation, global South cooperation, is not an option. It is a fundamental need. The Global South is the future. The Global South is the solution," he emphasised. The CELAC-Africa summit, held in Colombia from March 18 to 21, serves as a platform for political, economic and strategic dialogue between Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, with the main objective of strengthening South-South cooperation, boosting trade, attracting investment and advancing a common agenda on issues such as sustainable development, connectivity, financing, energy transition and digital transformation."