The Central American Integration System (SICA), the Presidency of the Dominican Republic and the European Union organized on June 5 to 8, the Week of Regional Cooperation, a meeting that gathered International and regional Cooperation experts to promote dialogue and reflection on the integration process of Central America.
Five years ago, in 2013, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the SICA Countries approved the Regional Cooperation Management, Coordination and Information Mechanism, which recognizes the need for greater ownership, alignment, results-oriented management, and mutual accountability in international cooperation. The Mechanism also established concepts, principles, criteria and procedures for the management, coordination and dissemination of regional projects.
In order to advance in the implementation of the Regional Cooperation Mechanism, in 2017 the SICA countries agreed to operate different Pro Tempore Presidencies (PPT) between Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic to strategically guide the efforts that the different regional bodies and secretariats have been developing.
The week of Regional Cooperation, held in the Dominican Republic (June 5-8), as part of the implementation of the Regional Mechanism, focused on: 1. “Formulating strategic guidelines and criteria for the identification of Regional Public Goods that add value to the integration process of Central America and the Dominican Republic”; 2. “Share the experiences of regional and international intraregional public goods and analyze the challenges for their implementation with the member states and regional institutions around the priority areas of the SICA”; and 3. “Identify intersectoral interventions in Regional Public Goods to address priorities of regional public policies and their contribution to the SDGs.
Javier Surasky, the Governance Coordinator of Cepei, was invited to be part of the “High Level Forum on regional South-South Cooperation: progress, challenges and contributions to the Global Development Agenda”. The Forum sought to provide participating countries with a space for reflection and work to improve South-South cooperation in the region and to advance common proposals for the international agenda of development cooperation.
The positions towards the PABA + 40 meeting was one of the themes addressed in the Forum, for which Javier Surasky offered a conference entitled “South-South Cooperation in the 2030 Agenda and the PABA + 40: regional priorities in the global development agenda”.
Along with the Governance Coordinator of Cepei, other participants that joined the meeting where: Miguel Vargas Maldonado, Minister of Relations of the Dominican Republic; Vinicio Cerezo, Secretary General of SICA; Laurent Sillano, Head of Regional Cooperation of the European Union; Bruno Ayllon, Doctor in Political Science from the Complutense University of Madrid; and Paula Orsini, Consultant for the EU in South-South and Triangular Cooperation, who moderated the forum.