<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers has taken note of the approval of the Ecuador-Spain Sustainable Development Partnership Framework 2024-2028, which was signed last November during the Ibero-American Summit and for which a budget forecast of approximately 101 million euros is estimated.</strong></h4> On November 14, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Gabriela Sommerfeld, signed the XV Minutes of the Spanish-Ecuadorian Joint Commission for Cooperation that launches the Country Association Framework (MAP, by its acronym in Spanish) Spain-Ecuador 2024-2028, which will guide Spanish Cooperation in Ecuador for the next four years. The event took place within the framework of the XXIX Ibero-American Summit, held in the city of Cuenca (Ecuador). At the meeting, which was also attended by the director of the AECID, Antón Leis, Albares recalled that Ecuador is a “priority country for our cooperation”, as stated in the Master Plan for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity 2024-2027. The Spain-Ecuador Partnership Framework (2024-2028) prioritizes four main areas of work: gender equality and inclusion of vulnerable groups; rural development, promoting access to food and nutritional security, drinking water, sanitation and sustainable development; action for the climate and the ecological transition through research, green innovation, the circular economy, the protection and conservation of natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity; and the quality and performance of public institutions to make them more effective, efficient, transparent, responsible, innovative and citizen-oriented. In addition, the MAP will incorporate in a “systematic and horizontal” way the human rights-based approach and the feminist and gender approach, environmental sustainability and cultural diversity, with special attention to the role of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities. Furthermore, given the country's vulnerability to natural disasters and adverse climate phenomena, Spanish Cooperation in Ecuador will integrate a cross-cutting risk management approach in all its actions. To meet all these objectives, 101 million euros will be allocated during the four years of the MAP.
