The Diplomat
The Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI) approved yesterday, during the celebration of its XIX General Assembly in Madrid, the first strategic planning in the history of the organization. PhilipVI received in audience, in the Palace of La Zarzuela, a representation of the participants in the Assembly.
The new strategy, agreed upon by the member cities of the organization, is “the result of the joint diagnosis transmitted during the months of the pandemic, when the UCCI was constituted as one of the fundamental resources and tools of contact between its cities for the exchange of action plans, experiences and knowledge”, according to the UCCI in a press release.
According to the new strategy, which will be in force until 2024, the UCCI cities are committed to renew and promote the entity as a leading political and cultural space, betting on innovation and sustainability and in order to achieve several objectives: “the strengthening of democratic institutions in Ibero-America, the exchange of experiences and good practices to improve the quality of life of citizens and the training of politicians who manage the different municipalities,” the text continues.
One of the strategic bets of the organization is to deepen alliances with international organizations and networks. This reinforcement has already led the UCCI to participate this year in high-level forums, such as the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) or the United Nations High Level Political Forum.
On the other hand, the UCCI renewed at the General Assembly its governing bodies for the period 2021-2023 with the consequent change in its co-presidency and thematic and regional vice-presidencies. As agreed at the meeting, the co-presidency of the organization will be shared between Madrid and San José for the period 2021-2022, while Lima will take over the baton to share it with the Spanish capital in 2022-2023.
Founded in 1982, the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities is an international organization of municipal character that brings together 29 Ibero-American cities: the capitals and other large cities of the American continent, as well as Spain, Portugal and Andorra. The UCCI, forerunner in almost ten years of the subsequent Summits of Heads of State and Government of the Ibero-American countries, obtained on January 25, 1989 the status of member with Consultative Status of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations Organization.
The General Assembly meets every two years in alternate Ibero-American regions, divided between the Iberian Peninsula, the Southern Cone, the Andean Zone and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. This year’s meeting, held under the slogan Cities for Ibero-America: The future that unites us, marked the return of the Assembly to the Spanish capital after almost 20 years and brought together for two days the mayors of Andorra la Vella, Asunción, Bogotá, Lima, Lisbon, Montevideo, San José, San Juan, San Salvador and Santo Domingo and high-level representatives from Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Cadiz, Guatemala, Havana, La Paz, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Sucre and Tegucigalpa, who exchanged initiatives around a common project of collaboration, solidarity and twinning and approved the organization’s future lines of work.
