The Diplomat
Yesterday, Queen Letizia learned first-hand about the work of AECID’s Technical Cooperation Office (OTC, for its acronym in Spanish) in Asunción (Paraguay) and was able to observe on the ground the support of Spanish Cooperation to women and youth in the city of Encarnación and the rehabilitation of the Jesuit missions of Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarengue, declared World Heritage Sites.
The Queen began her cooperation trip to Paraguay on the afternoon of November 2 (according to local time), where she was received at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport of Asunción by the First Lady of Paraguay, Silvana López; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Euclides Acevedo; and the Ambassador of Spain, Carmen Castiella. Afterwards, Doña Letizia went to the Presidential Hall, where she held a brief meeting with the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo.
Yesterday’s visit by the Queen -who is accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela Rodríguez– began with a visit to the Technical Cooperation Office, where she met with the heads of Spanish cooperation in Paraguay and the most important partners. A team of twelve Spanish and Paraguayan professionals works at the OTC, in charge of designing, planning, formulating and monitoring the development cooperation program in Paraguay.
Afterwards, the Queen traveled to Encarnación -365 kilometers from Asunción- to visit the Center for Integral Health Care for Women, where she was informed about the role of Spanish-Paraguayan cooperation in the prevention and treatment of cervical and breast cancer, with special attention to the most vulnerable groups (rural and indigenous population), and to visit the Encarnación Workshop School, where she visited the catering, cooking and room preparation workshops. The objective of the Workshop School is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable young people between 16 and 23 years of age through comprehensive education, technical training and job placement in the tourism and construction sectors.
In the afternoon, the Queen went to Trinidad to visit the Jesuit missions of Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarengue, where she was received by the First Lady, the Governor of the Department of Itapúa and the Paraguayan Minister of Tourism, among other personalities. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993, the Jesuit Missions of Jesús and Trinidad are part of the 30 villages of the Great Jesuit Province of Paraguay, and AECID participated in their restoration under an agreement signed with the Paraguayan government in 1991. Over the course of almost 30 years, the project has helped to relaunch tourism in the area.
Back in Asunción, Queen Letizia plans to visit today the settlements of El Bañado Sur to learn about the work carried out by the Spanish Cooperation in one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of the capital’s poverty belt. Queen Letizia will complete her trip with a visit to the Juan de Salazar Cultural Center, the dean of the Network of Spanish Cultural Centers spread throughout Latin America and Equatorial Guinea, which is a benchmark for cultural activities in the Paraguayan capital.
This is the sixth Cooperation trip made by the Queen, after those to Honduras and El Salvador (2015), Senegal (2017), Dominican Republic and Haiti (2018), Mozambique (2019) and again Honduras (2020). Spanish Cooperation has been present in Paraguay for almost 30 years, with a contribution of more than 200 million euros, making Spain one of the country’s main donors. In November 2020, the Spain-Paraguay Country Partnership Framework 2020-2023 was signed, which defines the strategic priorities for this period and has a budget estimate of 142 million euros.
