The Diplomat
Her Majesty the Queen will begin her fifth cooperation trip tomorrow, which will take her to Paraguay, where she will be able to learn about the activities promoted by Spain to contribute to the country’s development.
Doña Letizia will be accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, with whom she will visit various projects that Spanish organisations or those financed by Spain are carrying out in Paraguay, in the areas of women’s empowerment and health, education and preparation for youth employment, and the recovery and preservation of the country’s historical heritage.
Prior to this trip, since 2015, the Queen has made four other trips focused on getting to know the work being carried out by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) or Spanish non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in different countries. He has already visited Honduras and El Salvador; Senegal, the Dominican Republic and Haiti; and Mozambique.
Some of these trips had a humanitarian and emergency component, due to catastrophic situations suffered in the different countries, but on this occasion, Doña Letizia’s programme, both in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, and in Encarnación, in the south of the country, includes visits that will allow her to learn how Spain contributes to the development of Paraguay.
Spanish Cooperation has been present in Paraguay for 30 years, during which time some 200 million euros have been allocated, including more than 33.4 million euros between 2014-2019. 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.
Paraguay is a ‘priority partnership country’ in the current Spanish Cooperation Master Plan, despite the fact that thanks to the progress made in the last two decades, it has been able to considerably reduce poverty, expand the middle class and increase well-being, and since 2017 has been considered a High Human Development and Upper Middle Income country.
Despite this, Spain is committed to continuing to help the country, given that democratic institutional weakness and inequality persist.
With her trip, the Queen wishes first and foremost to show Spain’s solidarity with Paraguay and its commitment to this country, with which there are excellent bilateral relations and which has been supported during the pandemic, among other things with the donation of more than a million doses of vaccines, according diplomatic souerces.
Doña Letizia will be received this Tuesday by the Paraguayan authorities, including the first lady, Silvana Abdo, wife of President Mario Abdo.
During her first hours in Asunción, she plans to visit the Spanish Technical Cooperation Office (OTC) where a team of 12 people, including Spaniards and Paraguayans, coordinates and supports the work of a dozen Spanish NGOs working in the country and promotes alliances with other cooperation actors.
Doña Letizia will then travel to Encarnación to see the work of the comprehensive care centre for women in which the Religious Foundation for Health (FRS) has been working since 2007 on the prevention, diagnosis, awareness and treatment of cervical and breast cancer. She will also visit a workshop school for young people aged 16 to 23 to support their education, training and integration into the labour market.
During her stay in the region, the Queen will also visit the Jesuit missions of Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarengue where, since 1991, AECID has promoted projects for the restoration, rehabilitation and enhancement of archaeological remains, which has helped to relaunch tourism in the area.
Back in the country’s capital, Doña Letizia plans to visit the settlements of El Bañado Sur, on the outskirts of Asunción, to learn about the work carried out by Spanish cooperation in one of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of the capital’s poverty belt.
El Bañado Sur is a neighbourhood located in a flood-prone area bordering the Cateura municipal rubbish dump, where a large part of the population earns a living from collecting and recycling the capital’s waste.
Doña Letizia will complete her trip with a visit to the Juan de Salazar Cultural Centre, the dean of the Network of Spanish Cultural Centres in Latin America and Equatorial Guinea, which is a reference point for cultural activities in the Paraguayan capital.
