<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Andean Parliament has awarded the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) the 'Simón Bolívar Award for Latin American Integration'.</strong></h4> The award was presented this Friday to the OEI Secretary General, Spaniard Mariano Jabonero, at the headquarters of the organization's General Secretariat in Madrid, by the Secretary General of the Andean Parliament's Board of Directors, Eduardo Chiliquinga Mazón. The 'Simón Bolívar Award for Latin American Integration' recognizes the work of leaders and institutions that have made significant contributions to integration, development, overcoming poverty, and improving the quality of life of the region's citizens. This is the highest award granted by the Andean Parliament, based in Bogotá, Colombia, and which, among other awards, recognizes the work of the OEI in promoting education, science, and culture as tools for human development, generating opportunities to build a better future for all. The distinction also recognizes the contribution of the Organization of Ibero-American States to Parliament projects and initiatives, including the Andean Network of Accredited Universities, where the OEI technical team was instrumental in strengthening the network's regulatory instruments, and the Model of Andean Youth and University Parliaments, evaluated by the OEI in 2018. The Andean Parliament is the supranational and democratic body of the Andean Community—composed of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru—and its missions are to harmonize the region's laws, guarantee citizen participation, strengthen Andean and Latin American integration, regionalize good governance practices and state policies, and consolidate Andean identity and culture. Since 1949, the OEI has been the first intergovernmental organization for South-South cooperation in Ibero-America. It currently has 23 member states and 19 national offices, in addition to the General Secretariat in Madrid. In 2024, it received the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation "for its fruitful work in promoting multilateralism and for representing an important bridge in relations between Europe and Ibero-America." With more than 600 projects and 300 active cooperation agreements per year on average, the OEI represents one of the largest cooperation networks in Ibero-America. Among its results, the organization has contributed to the drastic reduction of illiteracy in Ibero-America, with an average of 11 million direct beneficiaries in the last five years.
