Four new regions join ORU Fogar in 2023
At the beginning of 2023, four regions, two African, one European and one Latin American, will become full members of ORU Fogar.
Nawa, a region in the west of the Ivory Coast with a population of just over one million, joins ORU Fogar. Its president, Alain Richard Donwahi, is also president of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (COP 15). Before becoming Regional President, he was Minister of Water and Forests of Côte d'Ivoire for five years. During his time in this ministry, Alain-Richard Donwahi implemented an innovative and dynamic forestry policy with the aim of recovering 3 million hectares of forest by 2030. Thanks to the Nawa, ORU Fogar is consolidating its position in this country, which already counts among its members the ARDCI, a national grouping of regions, but also the regions of Bélier, Sud Comoé, Grands Ponts and San Pedro.
The incorporation of Tahoua, in Niger, represents an important step for ORU Fogar in a country where it only has ARENI ( the Association of Niger Regions) as a member. Tahoua, one of the country's seven regions, is located in the centre of the Republic and has a population of 3,327,260. Its president, Sani Nabirni, who has obtained significant support for the region from international cooperation, is a fully recognised figure for his involvement in food security and agricultural and rural development programmes.
In Europe, ORU Fogar has been joined by the Junta de Extremadura. Extremadura is an autonomous Spanish community bordering Portugal, with a population of just over one million. At European level, the region is an uncontested reference in the field of cross-border policies. For more than thirty years, it has been developing Intrerex projects with Portugal, and the EuroAce Euroregion, which it forms with the Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Centro, is a reference in policies related to public safety, the environment, health and social and equality policies. Its cooperation policy, channelled through the Extremadura Agency for International Development Cooperation (AEXCID), stands out within European decentralised cooperation, with important projects in Central America and Colombia in Latin America and Mali and Senegal in Africa. Its current president is the socialist Guillermo Fernández Vara, who has already served three terms.
The Ecuadorian province of Pichincha is the Latin American incorporation of ORU Fogar in 2023. With a population of two and a half million, Pichincha, one of the 24 provinces of the Republic, takes its name from its 4, 790 meter high volcano, located very close to the equatorial circle. It is also the region of the capital Quito. Since its foundation, ORU Fogar has always had a significant presence in Ecuador, supported in particular by the long presidency of ORU Fogar by Ecuadorian Paúl Carrasco. However, the capital region had never been part of the organisation. Paola Pabón, the current prefect, is one of the leading figures in national politics, having led important debates with the central government to defend the competences of the regions.
