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OAS and Spain Renew Cooperation Agreements in Strategic Areas of the Hemispheric Organization

The Organization of American States (OAS) and the government of Spain today signed agreements on the Operating Plan by which the European country will contribute more than $3.7 million over the next three years to finance programs of the Pan-American institution related to the promotion of peace, human rights, access to justice and policies on drugs and security.

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, recognized the interest of Spain to continue its support for the hemispheric organization. "We acknowledge with deep gratitude this contribution. Spain is the first observer country to the OAS, and since 2006 we have had a cooperation agreement that is renewed periodically. I wish we had a joint collaboration mechanism with other Permanent Observers such as the one we have with Spain," he said.

The OAS leader highlighted that the Spanish collaboration focuses on areas relevant to the hemispheric institution, which means that "we share priorities." He recalled that the pioneering model of the contributions of Spain puts special emphasis on transparency in "the implementation of the projects that we work on together, which are subject to external evaluators."

The Secretary General of International Cooperation for Development of Spain, Gonzalo Robles, said the Spanish contribution is intended for areas where the OAS General Secretariat has strengthened in recent years, such as human rights, institution building, electoral support and drug policy. "With this agreement Spain maintains its presence where it should be" said the Spanish official, and added that "the OAS plays an indispensable role in a hemisphere that is moving forward in many fields, not only in economic terms, but also in terms of institutionalization."

“Spain has been, is and will remain committed to Latin America and the OAS," said the Spanish official, adding that "to accompany Secretary General Insulza with his leadership of the OAS is a pleasure for us."

Among the projects that will receive financial support from the contribution of the government of Spain are: the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia; the Promotion of the use of amicable solutions to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission for the protection of human rights in the Americas; strengthening the capacities of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to assess the state of compliance and enforcement of interim measures and to resolve particularly complex contentious cases; the consolidation of the National Judicial Facilitators Service in Paraguay, Phase IV; the Improvement of the hospital record system in El Salvador, Honduras and Paraguay; Strengthening Hemispheric Cooperation to Facilitate Access to Justice in the Americas (Phase I); Electoral Observation Missions; Strengthening Specialized Institutions for Assistance and Protection of Victims of Violence Generated by Organized Crime in Central America; the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI); and the Strengthening of programs of prevention, mitigation, treatment and social inclusion on drugs at the local level.

The signing ceremony was held at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, where a video was shown documenting the Spanish government's cooperation with the hemispheric organization, which can be downloaded here.

Before the ceremony, Secretary General Insulza received the Secretary General of Spanish Cooperation in his office in a meeting where they discussed issues of cooperation and the agenda of the OAS General Assembly to be held next week in Antigua, Guatemala. Secretary General Insulza was accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Hugo de Zela; the OAS Secretary for External Relations, Alfonso Quiñonez; and the adviser to the Secretary General, Ricardo Dominguez. Secretary General Robles was accompanied by the Permanent Observer of Spain to the OAS, Jorge Hevia; his alternate representative, Guillermo Marin; the Defense Adviser of Spain to the OAS, Lieutenant General Juan Carlos Villamía; and the Chief of Staff of Secretary Robles, José Ángel Manzano.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-roll of the is available here.

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

Reference: E-209/13