ORU Fogar strengthens relations with the Chinese provinces

A Chinese delegation visited the Secretariat General to acquaint themselves with ORU Fogar’s work and to consider the potential accession of its provinces

At the beginning of February, ORU Fogar was visited by a Chinese delegation led by the Secretary General of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Li Xikui, and the Secretary-General of China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development, Ling Jia. Both associations work to promote the country’s international relations in the field of development cooperation and they expressed interest in exploring potential cooperation ties with ORU Fogar. 

ORU Fogar’s Secretariat team presented the organisation’s 2017 ongoing initiatives and projects, like the II Regional Best Practices Award, co-organised with the UNDP, or the World Forum of Local Economic Development to be held in Cape Verde, of which ORU Fogar is part of the Executive Committee. The Secretary General Carles Llores invited the delegation and the Chinese regional governments to take part in these events. 

Representatives of nrg4SD and of the Catalan Government, members of the organisation with whom we have two projects in place, were also present. Rodrigo Messias, from nrg4SD, presented the RegionsAdapt initiative and Javier Sánchez, from the Catalan Directorate-General for Development Cooperation, presented the RIS3 project that is being promoted in Latin America by ORU’s Work Group on Development. 

The delegation took advantage of the trip to become familiar with some Catalan institutions, with which it could form cooperation partnerships. For example, they held a meeting with Francesca Guardiola, Director of Institutional Relations at Acció (Catalan agency for Business Competitivity) and Iztok Potokar, technical adviser of Asia-Pacific relations at the Foreign Affairs Secretariat. They also met with the Secretary General of Casa Asia, Montserrat Riba, and her team.

The visit was satisfactory to both parties. The Secretaries-General of both associations expressed their willingness to act as a bridge between ORU and the Chinese provinces, forwarding information on our work in the regional world to them and encouraging them to join us.