ORU participates in UNASUR’s meeting of Regional Governments
ORU’s President, Abdessamad Sekkal, attended the I Meeting of Intermediate Governments Associations of Latin-American countries in the framework of Habitat III
On the 19th of October, the Consortium of Provincial Governments of Ecuador (CONGOPE) with the collaboration of the Secretariat of South American Nations (UNASUR) held in Quito, Ecuador, the first Meeting of Intermediate Governments of Latin-American Countries in the framework of Habitat III. The meeting, organized with the objective to create a discussion forum that contributes to strengthen the role of regions in the development of Latin-American countries. Regional authorities from the South American countries were present and had a permanent participation in the meeting, which also had the new President of ORU Fogar, Abdessamad Sekkal, as special guest.
Sekkal started his statement by thanking the Secretary General of UNASUR and the former Colombian President, Ernesto Samper and CONGOPE’s President Gustavo Baroja for their invitation to participate in the meeting. As the new President of ORU Fogar, he paid homage to his predecessor, Paúl Carrasco, affirming that “thanks to him, Latin-American Regions got integrated in the Organization. I hope to achieve the same thing in the African Continent”. The President took that opportunity to invite all the participants to join forces to increase their influence before the international bodies, as well as to participate, from the 7th to the 18th of November, in the COP22 in Marrakesh.
At the opening session, Ernesto Samper called for further decentralization of resources and for a fiscal reassessment giving financing autonomy to regions. “Regional authorities have to be able to plan their own territories”, he added, “Central planning makes no sense”.
The meeting was the starting point for the construction of a network of joint collaboration which should lead intermediate governments to have a greater impact on the development actions in Latin America. It also served to ascertain the positioning of its members on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, under discussion at the time at Habitat III. In this respect, CONGOPE’s President, Gustavo Baroja, taking into account that Nikhil Seth, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNITAR, declared that “The United Nations have to understand the importance of the regions’ voices in this process which can’t be urban limited”
All of these actions are reflected in the joint declaration signed by the representatives of the Latin-American countries at the end of the debate, which also sets the common goals to be achieved by UNASUR’s members.
Related content:
Habitat III ends with the adoption of the New Urban Agenda. Article published by ORU Fogar, 25/10/2016
ORU Fogar renews the Presidency. Article published by ORU Fogar, 21/10/2016
Regions claim for more space in the New Urban Agenda. Article published by ORU Fogar, 25/10/2016
ORU Fogar's Agenda in Habitat III. Article published by ORU Fogar, 10/10/2016
Regional Governments in Habitat III. ORU Fogar’s position. Position on Regional Governments by ORU Fogar, September 2016
