IICA’s Director General renewed the alliance
with Spain’s Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena
Espinosa; and signed an historic agreement with the Secretary General of the
Ibero-American Summit process.
The Secretary General of the Ibero-American Summit
Process, Uruguayan Enrique Iglesias, and the Director General of IICA, Mexican
Víctor M. Villalobos, have just signed a general agreement in Madrid that paves
the way for innovative Ibero-American and inter-American cooperation that will
boost mutual understanding and joint work in the field of agriculture and rural
life.
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The agreement signed by Iglesias and Villalobos will
help create synergies between the two integration processes on behalf of Latin
American and Caribbean agriculture.
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Iglesias - President of the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) for almost 17 years - is the highest executive officer of
the Ibero-American Summit process, while Villalobos took over as the head of the
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture at the beginning of this
year. IICA’s mandates include providing follow-up to agriculture and rural life
within the framework of the Summit of the Americas process.
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IICA is an institutional partner in the Summit of the Americas process.
In the western hemisphere, most Heads of State and Government attend two types
of summit: the Ibero-American summits and the summits of the Americas. Some 22
Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin American and European countries
participate in the Ibero-American summits; while 34 nations from the hemisphere
take part in the summits of the Americas - from Canada in the north to the
Caribbean nations, and Argentina and Chile in the south.
The agreement signed by Iglesias and Villalobos will help create synergies
between the two integration processes on behalf of Latin American and Caribbean
agriculture.
One of the projects in which they will pool resources will be Proterritorios,
the Ibero-American Program for Cooperation in Territorial Management.
The two men also pledged to promote together the importance of agriculture and
climate change in the Ibero-American and inter-American ministerial meetings
that their two organizations spearhead.
A rewarding visit
IICA’s Director General made an official visit to Spain from 21-25 June, during
which he took advantage of the opportunity to renew agreements, and establish
new ones, with other agencies that support the development of sustainable and
competitive agriculture in the Americas.
Villalobos said the meetings in which he took part gave him the opportunity to
explain to senior government officials, cooperation agencies, research centers
and universities the core elements of IICA’s work over the next four years. He
was also able to promote new partnerships for IICA’s Permanent Office (OPE) in
Spain, which is the only member of the Institute that enjoys the status of
Associate Country.
“The visit enabled IICA to renew its agreement with the Ministry of the
Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM). The agreement facilitates the
Institute’s presence in Spain for a five-year period and provides for the
incorporation of new areas of technical cooperation, such as organic agriculture
and the promotion of agrarian insurance,” he pointed out.
The head of the MARM, Elena Espinosa, and IICA’s Director General signed the
agreement.
Villalobos met with the Director General of Catalonia’s Institute for Research
on Agricultural Technology (IRTA), Josep Mª Monfort, to determine the areas on
which the renewed agreement between IICA and the IRTA will focus. They include
increased technical cooperation on the transfer of greenhouse technology.
The Director General’s program also included a meeting with representatives of
the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), to whom he
presented the projects that IICA and other agencies have prepared for the
reconstruction of the agricultural sector in Haiti.
Villalobos met with representatives of ETEA, the ETEA Foundation for Development
and Cooperation and the School of Economic and Business Sciences of the
University of Cordoba. The foundation has provided support to Latin America and
the Caribbean (LAC) for many years and the Director General discussed with its
representatives the financing of a rural development project with a territorial
approach in Central America in which both institutions are interested.
Another meeting involved the governing body of the Campus for Agrifood
Excellence of five universities in Andalusia, which offered to finance the
master’s degree studies of six experts from LAC (three women and three men) at
the campus.
Meetings also took place with important IICA partners, including the State
Agricultural Insurance Agency (ENESA), the Spanish Rural Development Network
(REDR), the Department of Agriculture and Rural Action of Catalonia (DAAR), the
Agency for Development and Innovation and the Competitiveness of Catalonian
Enterprises (ACC1Ó), the Catalonian Agency for International Development
Cooperation (ACCD) and the Department of the Environment of Catalonia.
During his visit to Spain, the Director General took part in the Ninth Meeting
of the NARIs of Ibero-America, held in Tenerife, during which he gave a
presentation on IICA’s new vision for the period 2010-2014.
For more information, contact
lars.pira@iica.int