First work meeting with ORU Fogar’s new President

President Abdessamad Sekkal travelled to Barcelona to meet with the Secretariat-General and begin preparations for the next Executive Bureau, which will be held in Rabat at the end of April  

Abdessamad Sekkal, President of the Moroccan region of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and newly elected President of ORU Fogar, travelled to Barcelona from the 30th of January to the 2nd of February to hold the first official meeting with the Secretariat General. The visit’s main aim was to begin preparations for the 2017 statutory meetings: the Executive Bureau, to be held in Rabat on the 24th and 25th April, and the General Assembly, to be held in the Basque Country in October.

This Executive Bureau meeting will be the first one under Sekkal’s presidency, who will also act as host as it will be held in his region. The President announced that after the meeting, the Moroccan Government will hold an official reception for the participants, with the presence of the Head of Government, Abdelilah Benkirane.

The meeting with the Secretariat-General allowed to show the President all the projects and initiatives that ORU has under way in 2017, such as the second edition of the Regional Best Practice Award, co-organised with the UNDP. Javier Sánchez and Yoya Alcoceba, from the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, presented the RIS3 project that ORU’s Work Group on Development (led by the Catalan Government) is promoting in Latin America.  

Getting to know the Catalan institutions

The President took advantage of the trip to meet with the Catalan institutions members or partners of ORU Fogar. He held a meeting with the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and the Regional Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and for Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull. He also met Maria Badia, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Manel Vila, Director-General of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation. He attended, together with the Secretary General Carles Llorens, the presentation of the “3rd Report on Climate Change in Catalonia” at the Palace of the Generalitat.

He also visited the Barcelona Provincial Government, also member of ORU Fogar, to discuss with Jaume Ciurana, Deputy delegated by the Presidency, General Services and Relations with the city of Barcelona and Josep Lluís Alay, Commissioner for International Relations, the creation of a new Work Group on Cultural Diversity under their leadership. In addition, he met with Jordi Fornós, Director of ILI - Logística Internacional, Pablo Sarrias, Director-General and Founder of the platform for citizen participation Civiciti, and with Senén Florensa, President of the European Institute of the Mediterranean.   

Related content:

ORU’s President travels to Rome to meet with the Italian regions. Article published by ORU Fogar, 13/02/2017