Our Latin America office

Luxembourg Cooperation has been present in Latin America since the early 1990s, more specifically in Nicaragua and El Salvador, with a mandate to support these countries in their fight against poverty and to help them emerge from armed conflict.

Since 2003, when Nicaragua became a priority partner country for Luxembourg Cooperation, three consecutive Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICPs) have been implemented, focusing on programmes in the fields of health, water, vocational training and tourism. In the context of the socio-political crisis of 2018, Luxembourg froze its bilateral cooperation with the authorities and refocused its action on support for civil society, food security and natural risk management. Since 2024, LuxDev has not carried out any projects in Nicaragua.

El Salvador, in view of its economic and social progress and following the implementation of three ICPs since 2003, became a ‘project country’ for Luxembourg Cooperation in 2016. In 2024, LuxDev, under a mandate from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, finalised the formulation of two new projects in El Salvador on youth employment in the field of digitalisation and on South-South and triangular cooperation. To support these projects, LuxDev has opened a satellite office closely linked to the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Costa Rica.

On 17 July 2023, the Republic of Costa Rica and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg signed a general cooperation agreement. This agreement formalises development cooperation relations between the two countries and sets out the framework for the activities and presence of Luxembourg Cooperation in Costa Rica. Among other things, it defines the main areas of intervention for Luxembourg Cooperation in Costa Rica, namely the socio-economic integration of women and young people, climate resilience and environmental sustainability, as well as social cohesion and human rights. The cross-cutting themes are inclusive and innovative finance and digital development. In September 2023, the Embassy and LuxDev simultaneously opened their respective offices in the country.

Since the mid-2010s, the bi- and multilateral cooperation strands have been supplemented by a growing number of regional cooperation initiatives, particularly in support of the integration of Central American countries. This approach has materialised through a growing number of regional projects addressing development challenges shared by Central American countries, targeting areas such as inclusive finance, public finance management, climate change, employability and female employment, gender, human rights and migration.

The presence of Luxembourg Cooperation in the region took concrete form in 2023 with the opening of an Embassy and a LuxDev regional office in San José, Costa Rica. Costa Rica will thus serve as a geographical base for the implementation of regional interventions by Luxembourg Cooperation in Central America, activities which are complemented by bilateral efforts, notably in El Salvador and Costa Rica.

In addition to the bilateral projects implemented in Costa Rica and El Salvador, LuxDev is involved in the implementation of projects of regional scope, in particular through the following interventions:

• Regional technical assistance fund in Central America;
• Regional programme for the promotion of women's entrepreneurship - Phase II;
• https://luxdev.lu/en/activities/project/ALC/001Sustainable forest management;
• Contribution to the Female Entrepreneurship Fund.