The Diplomat
The State Secretary for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, yesterday concluded her first international tour since taking up her post, which has taken her to Honduras and Guatemala. In the Guatemalan capital on Wednesday she signed an agreement for the new Country Partnership Framework 2021-2024, which includes actions worth around 80 million euros.
The cooperation framework with Guatemala for the next four years will emphasise the fight against child malnutrition; the promotion of the right of women, girls and adolescents to a life free of violence; the strengthening of the rule of law and the promotion of culture and development in the Central American country.
During the signing of the agreement, the State Secretary pointed out that Spain “does not tutor, but accompanies” and that for cooperation actions to be “effective” they must be carried out with “constructive dialogue”.
Pilar Cancela insisted that, with the fight against chronic malnutrition, which affects one out of every two children under the age of six in Guatemala, as a starting point, the new Spanish cooperation will also have the fight against gender violence and the defence of equality between women and men as a cross-cutting issue.
The signing of the agreement with Guatemala took place in the framework of the ninth joint Spanish-Guatemalan cooperation commission and Cancela stressed that it seeks to meet at least seven of the sustainable development goals of Guatemala’s 2030 Agenda: “zero hunger”, “gender equality”, “peace, justice and strong institutions”, “health and well-being”, “quality education”, “clean water and sanitation” and “sustainable cities and communities”.
The general coordinator of Spanish cooperation in Guatemala, Miguel González, explained that the territorial scope of the cooperation programme includes 13 of the 22 departments of the Central American nation.
For her part, the head of the Secretariat of Planning and Programming of the Presidency of Guatemala (Segeplan), Luz Keila Gramajo, said during the presentation of the Partnership Framework that it “will give continuity to the efforts of the technical teams that the ministries identified in conjunction with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development”.
Yesterday, Thursday, the State Secretary held meetings with Spanish NGOs and representatives of Guatemalan civil society, women and organisations that combat trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children. She also visited the Spanish Cooperation’s cultural and training centres in the capital and in the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala, 50 kilometres away.
Pilar Cancela’s tour began on Monday in Honduras, where she visited a drinking water project in the department of Comayagua, in the centre of the Central American country, implemented with the assistance of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development.
During her stay in Tegucigalpa, the State Secretary met with senior UN officials, Honduran government officials, representatives of Spanish non-governmental organisations and the President of the Central American Parliament, Fanny Carolina Salinas.
In her first international visit as State Secretary for Cooperation, she underlined the importance of Central America for Spanish Cooperation and for Spain in general in its foreign policy.
In Honduras, Pilar Cancela referred to Spain’s contribution to the country’s vaccination plan against COVID, “not only through the Covax mechanism, but also through bilateral relations,” she said.
The State Secretary assured that, before the end of the year, Honduras will have received a Spanish donation of 500,000 vaccines, of which some 280,000 have been delivered between August and September, from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
