Regions of the 5 continents  participate in the Summit of ORU Cartagena de Indias

More than  200 representatives from 65 regional  governments have participated in the  Summit  of  ORU-FOGAR  from September 1st to the  3rd, 2014, which  was held in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). With the governor of Bolivar, Juan Carlos Gossain and  the National Federation of Departments of Colombia as hosts, in this historical  colonial  city  several notes were discussed in a summit entitled "Decentralization accelerates  development", aiming towards the debate on  the Post 2015 localization of the development goals of the United Nations.

The  event began with the Bureau and  the Assembly of ORU-FOGAR in which the Prefect of Azuay, Ecuador, Paul Carrasco was  reelected as president, accompanied by the President of the Regional Council of Rabat, Abdelkébir Berkia as first vice-president.

They  both  presented a work plan that has the ambition to turn ORU FOGAR into a truly global organization, seeking to strengthen its presence  in Asia and in the rest of the continents.

In the Bureau, the incorporation of the vice-president of the  region Rhône-Alpes, France, Bernard  Soulage was approved, as well as the incorporation of the  governor of Santa  Fe, Argentina, Antonio  Bonfatti, under the relationship agreement with UCLG. The ORU-FOGAR Assembly  also  approved to accept the new applications for admissions as new  members of ARDCI (Ivory Coast), Regional Council of Sud Comoé (Ivory  Coast), Departmental Boards Association  of the  Republic of Paraguay, Bélier Region  (Ivory Coast), Regional Council  of Hauts-Bassin (Burkina  Faso), Champagne-Ardenne (France),  Government of Bolivar (Colombia), Decentralized Autonomous Government of the  Province of Morona-Santiago (Ecuador), Board  of  Governors of Kenya and Government of the Province of Cotopaxi (Ecuador). The responsibility of secretary general was also ratified in Carles Llorens.

With the participation of representatives of UNDP and UN- Habitat, the Summit was recognized as a Consultation of the Localization of the Post 2015 Development Agenda. The governors, with a strong  speech given by the president of ORU-FOGAR, Paul Carrasco, wanted to highlight to the UN representatives the importance of a territorial approach to development and the need  of decentralization. Carrasco defended the need of sharing political power and attribute capacities from the national governments to the intermediate governments.

Representatives from different regions who attended the Summit signed a letter to President of the Republic of Colombia to move their support to the peace process, stressing their belief that peace can be built from the territory.