GM signs Euro 700,000 cooperation agreement with Spain

As a follow up to previous discussions between the GM and the Spanish Government, during which Spain had expressed interest in supporting the GM’s work, a GM delegation met representatives of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC) and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), on 19 January 2007, in Madrid, to discuss how a potential financial contribution from Spain would be utilized.

 

This GM delegation - comprising the Managing Director, the Programme Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Programme Coordinator for South-to-South Cooperation – explained in detail the GM’s mandate and consolidated strategy and illustrated its activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and through its South-to-South cooperation programme, SolArid.

 

The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation highlighted its priorities, within the framework of the MAEC’s 2005-2008 Programme of Work.  

The degree of complementarity between AECI’s priorities and the GM’s proposals for the utilization of Spain’s financial contribution was immediately apparent.

 

Spain thus confirmed it would support the GM with financially and announced an initial contribution of Euro 700,000 which will be used to co-finance:

This agreement was formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding, which entered into force on 2 May 2007.

 

It was also agreed that the GM will collaborate with its country offices in LAC and North Africa and will actively contribute to AECI’s Araucaria Programme for Latin America and its Azahar Programme for the southern and eastern Mediterranean basin. 

Both these programmes promote the participation of all Spain’s cooperation partners in ensuring environmental sustainability of the regions concerned, through the conservation and sustainable use of the regions’ natural capital, in order to increase the quality of life of current and future generations in the frame of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

 

Moreover, Spain indicated that it would be willing to continue supporting the GM on a systematic basis in the years to come, based on the progress made in implementing the activities agreed upon for this initial contribution.

 

The Spanish Government also stressed its interest in playing a more active role in the international policy dialogue on the UNCCD.

 

For more information:
Mr Alejandro Kilpatrick, Programme Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean
Tel. +39 06 5459 2524
a.kilpatrick (at) ifad.org

Mr Youssef Brahimi, Programme Coordinator, South-to-South Cooperation, Africa
Tel. +39 06 5459 2584
y.brahimi (at) ifad.org