Declaration of intent on ORU Fogar’s guidelines
by Paúl Carrasco Carpio, Provincial Prefect of Azua y, Ecuador and Abdelkébir Berkia, Regional President of Rabat -Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco.
We arrive at the Cartagena Summit with a history, a travelled path and a balance. During the mandate that is now ending, ORU-FOGAR ha s had a significant presence in a variety of global discussion forums, mainly in th e debate on the renewal of the Millennium Developing Goals, with the group Post-20 15. We have intensified considerably our presence in Latin America. We have entered into an agreement with UCLG which reinforces both organizations and, final ly, a Secretariat of the organization has been established in Barcelona.
Building on these achievements, the new mandate, wh ich will be initially led by Paúl Carrasco, Provincial Prefect of Azuay, as President and Abdelkébir Berkia, Regional President of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer as Vice-Presid ent, should strengthen ORU Fogar in the following ways:
1. We must achieve a truly global organization. The pr esence of networks and regions in the organization is irregular. In this s ense, during this mandate the following objectives should be reached:
a. The presence of European regions should be more wid espread, opening to the presence of the German Lands, to more Italia n and Spanish regions, as well as to regions in the Nordic countr ies.
b. Further work should be carried out by the organizat ion to reach more countries in Maghreb and in Africa.
c. Asia should have an increased presence, to support the regions arising from the emerging decentralization processes.
d. The presence in Latin America must continue to be a reference for organizations, further developing the presence obta ined in the previous mandate, opening more doors in Brazil.
e. North America, with its federal tradition, must hav e presence in ORU- FOGAR, including governors from Mexico, the United States and Canada.
f. We must continue to count on the Russian regions, e nsuring a fruitful long-term relationship with them.
g. We must pay attention to the processes in the Middl e East entailing the emergence of intermediate governments who support g overnance in the area. Secretaría general Via Laietana 14 baixos 08003 Barcelona This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2. We must have a solid well-structured organization. The Presidency and the Vice-Presidency must support the deployment of the Secretariat-General in Barcelona, as it is the main instrument for achievi ng a strong organization. This structure must be professionalized and must have ad equate funding. Both the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency undertake to see k resources that will allow ORU-FOGAR to solve its funding shortfalls, by enhan cing the regions and networks’ loyalty to the organization.
3. We must continue to develop our discourse in favour of the regionalization and the political autonomy of the intermediate governme nts. We truly believe that the meeting in Cartagena de Indias provides us with concepts and arguments, but the ORU-FOGAR leaders must bring this baggage t o all global discussions, by means of an engaging apostolate. We will do it i n the belief that, as the Cartagena motto says, political autonomy of the intermediate governments promotes development.
4. We must continue to strive so that ORU-FOGAR is rec ognized by the United Nations and by all the international organizations, as the global voice for the regional and intermediate governments. We shall pur sue this recognition by means of a continued presence of our organization i n all the debates and in all international forums in which the regional governme nts should make their voice heard.
5. We will continue to work in collaboration with UCLG , with a coordinated joint presence in different documents, while we both supp ort the creation of the Forum of Regions and Intermediate Governments invol ving regions from UCLG and from ORU-FOGAR.
6. ORU-FOGAR must be a space for exchanging experience s and for mutual support, where regions and intermediate governments can find the strategic key partners to develop their capacities.
7. ORU-FOGAR must also be oriented towards being an or ganization that provides services and support to the regions, both technical and political.
8. ORU-FOGAR, counting on external resources from the European Union or from other international bodies, must deploy its own pro jects, mainly in support of development, with the contribution from its members .
Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador, 14 th of August 2014
