The Diplomat
The 6th Ibero-American Cooperation Week kicked off yesterday in the 22 Ibero-American countries, under the slogan “Strengthening the Ibero-American community to increase citizens’ rights”, with a view to the XXVIII Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in March 2023 in the Dominican Republic.
The Week, which will last until 31 October, is being developed under a multidimensional, multi-stakeholder, flexible and horizontal working model, according to a press release from the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Through its 30 programmes, initiatives and projects (PIPA), it seeks to respond to the needs of 670 million people in areas such as education, science and technology, culture, social inclusion, gender, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the environment.
The Segib stresses that, among the achievements of the Ibero-American Weeks, “values and milestones such as talent being a capital value for the region, with more than 60. Among the achievements of the Ibero-American Weeks are “values and milestones such as the fact that talent is a capital value for the region, with more than 60,000 student and teacher mobilities thanks to the Campus Iberoamérica programme; the creation of cultural spaces as a right for all, turning difference into a value and cooperation in co-production, with more than 800 films (supported by Ibermedia); 15,000 artists who have brought their music to 112 million people thanks to Ibermúsicas; and the 22,000 young people who have participated in Iberorquestas”.
In these years, cooperation has also translated into political advocacy for women’s rights, with nearly a hundred mandates and commitments for equality and an Ibero-American initiative to Prevent and Eliminate Violence against Women. The region has also seen the process of digitalisation of companies on both continents and economic, social and environmental progress boosted by the cooperative work of the 22 member countries, thanks to a new form of business society: the Collective Benefit companies. In this regard, it is important to highlight that of the 4,000 certified B companies in the world, 1,000 are located in Latin America (25% of the total).
The communiqué adds that Ibero-American cooperation is synonymous with social cohesion and a transversal and horizontal way of working in which civil society participates and focuses on the most vulnerable communities. The cooperation of the 22 also operates in South-South and triangular cooperation modalities, a fact that has made it an international benchmark in this area. And in this policy of adding new actors to its management, an example of its achievements are the eight citizen innovation laboratories; the more than 5,800 initiatives registered and 83 solutions created.
