Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Thursday called on European leaders to push ahead "a new strategic alliance" between Europe and Latin America.

At the opening of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Euro-Latin American Parliament Assembly (EuroLat), Pinera said that EuroLat is an organization for dialogue which helps promote integration between the two continents.

"Although they're separated by an immense ocean, they are called on every day to unite and face together the problems, challenges and opportunities in this new world," he said.

EuroLat, a trans-national body of 150 parliamentarians from Europe and Latin America, was established in 2006 to bolster the relations between the two regions.

However, it has stumbled along amid the global economic crisis, prompting some members to urge relaunching the initiative to promote bi-regional economic integration at the session.

Pinera told the members that "the time for a new strategic alliance between Europe and Latin America has arrived, which will allow us to really accomplish the dreams, aims and hopes of our peoples."

"Latin America, despite its mistakes, is experiencing a real rebirth and has learned from those mistakes, which can be shown in the fact that Latin America is able to weather the world's recent economic crisis, probably the second worst one since 1929," he added.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton acknowledged the economic and social achievements of Latin America and called for a larger exchange between both regions as commercial cooperation "is very rewarding" and can serve as "a foundation to advance towards a strategic association."

"We have to share our successes," she said.