The State Secretary for International Cooperation (SECI), Pilar Cancela Rodríguez, concluded today her first trip to Costa Rica and Colombia following the approval of the Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity, during which she made visits to education, culture and sustainable development projects, which she combined with an intense high-level institutional agenda. This trip intensifies Spain's relationship with both countries in the field of development cooperation, which began more than 30 years ago.
Cancela met with the teams of the Spanish Cooperation Offices in both countries, the Costa Rican Cultural Centre and the more than 30 Spanish NGDOs with a permanent presence in Colombia, where she also visited the Workshop School that provides work training for young people in vulnerable situations.
During her visit, the State Secretary showed Spain's commitment to gender equality policies and to the achievement of SDG5, with her visit to the Women's Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, a project funded by Spanish Cooperation in collaboration with the Women's Institute (INAMU) to promote women's political participation and to include their demands in the agenda of the parties.
The SECI also visited the TECNICAFÉ facilities and held a meeting with the Association of Women Coffee Growers of Cauca (Colombia), who carry out their work in a traditionally male environment, and who have the support and accompaniment of the Spanish Cooperation.
Migratory flows
Spain is a pioneer in cooperating with Costa Rica in the management of migratory flows. SECI launched, together with the local authorities the INTEGREMONOS project, through which Spanish Cooperation will develop a €3 million project over four years on the northern border of Costa Rica, to promote the inclusion of displaced populations and the economic development of hosting communities.
The SECI visited "El Farolito", a project through which cultural relations with Costa Rica have been strengthened for thirty years, and launched the new technical cooperation stage in the field of organ transplants, a project that Spain has been developing with Costa Rica within the framework of the new Advanced Cooperation Agreement 2021-2029.
Spanish Cooperation also contributes to promoting social cohesion in culturally and ethnically diverse contexts, which, in the case of Colombia, were faced with post-conflict social reconstruction situations. In this context, they travelled to the municipality of Yotoco to visit the ECOMÚN-CECOESPE coffee farm belonging to the Reintegration Project for ex-combatants of the FARC-EP.
The busy agenda of the trip concluded with Cancela's participation in the Dialogue "Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean: Recalibrating our strategic partnership", where she stressed how important this Dialogue is as "a space for deliberation and exchange on perspectives for Latin America and the Caribbean and on innovative ways to address the challenges and opportunities of EU-LAC bi-regional relations ahead of the EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government in July this year".