Regions of Côte d'Ivore, Bolivia, Venezuela, Niger and Peru join ORU Fogar

During ORU Fogar's assembly held on Monday 22nd of October, the incorporation of four new regions and two associations of regions was approved.

From Côte d'Ivore, the region of San-Pédro was admitted as a member. It is a coastal region, with 826,000 inhabitants, in the south-west of the country, bordering Liberia. The candidacy of the region was presented by its president, Donatien Beugre, who is at the same time one of the vice-presidents of the Association of Regions and Districts of Côte d'Ivore. With San-Pédro joining Belier and Sud Comoé, there are already three regions of the country within ORU Fogar.

The incorporation of two departments of Bolivia and one state of Venezuela was especially celebrated, as it allowed to say that the organization already had a presence in all the South American countries.

From the Plurinational Republic of Bolivia, Santa Cruz and Tarija, two departments of the so-called 'Half Moon', the Bolivian territory with the greatest decentralizing feeling, adhered. Santa Cruz, an immense department in the east of the country, with 2.6 million inhabitants, is the economic engine of Bolivia. Tarija, in the southeast, has about half a million inhabitants. In the last years it has had a great growth, thanks to the exploitation of its natural resources, and today it is the second department, after Santa Cruz, with less poverty.

The state of Mérida, in the west of the country, is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Ramón Guevara, governor since November 2017, is part of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, as one of the five governors opposed to the ruling party. In Rabat, Mérida's candidacy was presented by Guido Mercado, head of international cooperation.

The application for membership by the Association of Regions of Niger, ARENI, was submitted by its vice-president, Illo Adamou. The Association was created in 2012 with the aim of helping the country's regions in their negotiation with the government of Niamey, at the time of the transfer of competences. ARENI had participated in the Azuay Food Security Summit, held in April.

The Commonwealth of the Andes includes six Peruvian regions: Apurimac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Ica, Junín and Cusco. In the assembly of ORU Fogar, the Commonwealth was represented by the governor of Apurimac, Wilber Venegas. With an accumulated experience in overcoming malnutrition and anemia in very high percentages of its population,  the Commonwealth had already joined the meeting of the ORU Fogar Food Security Core Group at the Rabat meeting.