Montevideo hosts ORU Fogar’s Executive Bureau

ORU held its second 2015 Executive Bureau in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Congreso de Intendentes de Uruguay, leaded by its Chairman Sergio Botana, acted as host of the meeting and welcomed the participating members in the plenary meeting room of the Municipal Palace. 

Amongst the members who attended the meeting were representatives of the Basque Government, the Government of Catalonia and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCDC), of the Argentinian Government of Santa Fe, of the Latin-American Organisation of Intermediate Governments (OLAGI), of nrg4SD, of the French Region Champagne-Ardenne and of the Association of French Regions (ARF). Some of the most significant decisions adopted during the Bureau meeting were the acceptance of the State of Mexico as new member and the holding of the next General Assembly in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the 14th and 15th of April 2016. As regards the latter, the members polished up on the first details of the Assembly preparation.

After that, the attendants reviewed ORU’s work agenda, which has been divided in three areas: climate change, Post-2015 Agenda and Food Security. ORU’s work groups presented their activity reports and the progress of the projects they are working on. Ana Clara Azevedo, representative of nrg4SD’s secretariat, explained the way ORU will be present in the Paris COP21 and, in relation to post-2015 agenda, suggested defining a toolkit to help regions implement it. 

Helena Vicente, representative of ACCDC, presented the position document of the Post-2015 work group on the Sustainable Development Goals and she expressed the view that for localizing the post-2015 agenda we must redefine certain legal areas in order to promote greater defence of human rights and gender equality. Finally, the Director of International Relations at the Champagne-Ardenne regional government and head of ORU’s Food Security work group, Claude Poulet, stressed the regional governments key role in food security, as the territorial approach is better tailored to meet its challenges.