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OAS and Spain Renew Cooperation Partnership in Various Fields

The Organization of American States (OAS) and Spain signed today an agreement to renew their partnership for cooperation in areas such as support for peace in Colombia, democratic governance, human rights, the system of judicial facilitators, public security, and migration, among others.

In a ceremony held at OAS headquarters in Washington DC, the Secretary General of the Organization, José Miguel Insulza, and the Secretary General of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), Gonzalo Robles, signed the minutes of the Joint Committee of the Spanish Fund for the OAS, through which the European country donated more than $ 3.5 million.

Secretary General Insulza highlighted the commitment of Spain to the hemispheric institution, noting that over the last decade it has become the Permanent Observer which has donated the most funds. "For the OAS, the Spanish Fund has been a major contribution of resources to fulfill its mandates and achieve its objectives, which has contributed to the development of nearly one hundred projects between 2006 and 2013 in central and strategic areas for the Organization such as crisis prevention and peace building, protection of human rights, support for the development of fully democratic electoral systems, and legal and judicial development," he said.

The OAS leader highlighted "the fact that with this agreement, it will continue to maintain support for fields and lines of action that were already being supported, which have proved successful , and on which the strategic interests of the OAS and Spanish cooperation converge."

For his part, Secretary General Robles said the OAS is a "strategic partner" for Spain in its projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. "With this signature, we wanted to renew support for all the projects and programs on which Spain has been working," said Secretary General Robles, adding that his government is carefully implementing and supporting projects where "we think it is worth making an effort."

Robles said that after three years of economic difficulties in his country, AECID has returned this year with greater resources and increased its budget to support the OAS. "Our commitment is structural rather than cyclical, and we want to continue to help strengthen this Organization because Latin America and the Caribbean is one of our priorities," he added.

The funds will benefit projects related to following areas: the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia; implementation of measures to promote trust between Belize and Guatemala; capacity building of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; promotion of the standards of the Inter-American Human Rights System; and development of the Program of Judicial Facilitators.

In addition, funds will be used for the Universal Civil Identity Project of the Americas (PUICA); for Citizen Security, to strengthen public institutions responsible for public safety and crime prevention; the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI); Electoral Observation Missions; and the Art Museum of the Americas.

The signing ceremony was attended by the OAS Assistant Secretary General, Albert Ramdin; the Permanent Observer of Spain to the OAS, Jorge Hevia; the OAS Secretary for External Relations, Alfonso Quiñonez; and the OAS Director of the Coordinating Office for the Offices of the General Secretariat in the Member States, Ricardo Dominguez.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-Roll of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-442/14