The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, today chaired the first constituent meeting of the Sectoral Conference on Cooperation in Madrid, a body for participation, dialogue, coordination, agreement and collaboration in matters of cooperation for sustainable development of the General State Administration, the Administrations of the Autonomous Communities, and the cities with a Statute of Autonomy.
The Sectoral Conference on Cooperation promotes policy coherence for sustainable development as a guiding principle for Spain's contribution to achieving global development goals, allowing the Autonomous Communities to participate in both the implementation and planning of cooperation policy in a coordinated, complementary manner with the General State Administration, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Albares underlined “the importance of this Sectoral Conference for its explicit recognition of decentralised cooperation as a structural and structuring actor in Spanish Cooperation, taking another step forward in the reform and modernisation of our system. It also reaffirms our commitment to international development cooperation and humanitarian action as one of the cornerstones of our new Foreign Action Strategy, based on our commitment to a more prosperous world, with less inequality and more rights”.
A more participatory decentralised cooperation
In practical terms, the Sectoral Conference will take on special importance for the participation of decentralised cooperation in the development of new thematic Spanish Cooperation strategies and its contribution to the planning of bilateral cooperation through the Partnership Frameworks and Alliances for Sustainable Development, in the joint effort to reach 0.7% of Gross National Income by 2030.
The meeting, chaired by Minister Albares, was attended by representatives from the 17Autonomous Communities and the autonomous city of Ceuta, the State Secretary for International Cooperation (who will chair the Sectoral Cooperation Commission), the Director-General for Sustainable Development Policies, the Technical Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Director-General of Local and Regional Cooperation of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, and representatives of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Confederation of Cooperation and Solidarity Funds (CONFOCOS).
First decisions
At today's constitutive sitting, the first decisions of the new Sectoral Conference on Cooperation were taken, including the designation of the vice-chair, assigned to Basque cooperation, in accordance with the established designation order according to the seniority of the Statutes of Autonomy of the Autonomous Communities and cities. The internal operating regulations and the creation of working groups for the different cooperation modalities and instruments, and for the planning, monitoring and evaluation of Spanish Cooperation as a whole, were also unanimously approved.
For images of the event click
here
.
-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-