The Diplomat
The director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Antón Leis, and the executive director of the French Development Agency (AFD), Rémy Rioux, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the impact of their financial cooperation initiatives in developing countries.
Through this new agreement, signed on September 19 in Madrid, AECID and AFD will improve their coordination and share their priorities in order to maximize the impact of their financial development cooperation initiatives, so that they can better contribute to reinforcing sustainable development objectives in the final beneficiary population. Specifically, the agreement specifies a strategic partnership to explore new methods and opportunities for cooperation within the European Union.
This Memorandum also promotes the exchange of knowledge and operational information on procedures, strategies, programs or projects and even the possibility of co-financing joint initiatives, to be carried out in the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, the MENA region and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in the sectors of cooperation in water and sanitation, agricultural industry and rural development, renewable energy and climate change, financial inclusion, support for SMEs and social economy, and promotion of technological improvements and innovation.
Finally, the agreement contemplates the exchange of information and communication as a fundamental element, as well as the possibility of exchanges of personnel specialized in reimbursable cooperation -including financial cooperation- with mutual learning objectives.
At the European level, the AECID and the AFD are committed to consolidating the European Development Cooperation system and to promoting European financing mechanisms. Precisely, the two institutions have shared since 2016, together with their Italian and German counterparts, a commitment with the European Commission to coordinate their initiatives in order to improve their impact. Under this agreement, AECID, AFD, Italy’s CDP and Germany’s KfW created the Joint European Financiers for International Cooperation (JEFIC) network in October 2021.
