The OAS creates a department to coordinate with the regional governments of the Americas

With the argument that subnational governments can help secure peace on the continent, the Organization of American States has created a department for its secretary general to coordinate with regional governments. The order creating the department states that the OAS must "strengthen regional governments in the hemisphere within the framework of inter-American values and principles”.

The order assumes that there are situations that disturb the peace in America that they must have a sub-national focus in order to have adequate treatment. The General Secretariat of the OAS should therefore reinforce the spaces for dialogue with regional governments. The annex to the order also provides for the OAS to design and implement mechanisms to promote peace at the subnational level and in collaboration with regional governments.

Edwin Miño, executive director of CONGOPE, explains that the first step for this recognition was taken in 2016 during Habitat III, when the First Meeting of Latin American Intermediate Governments took place in UNASUR. Finally, the project was finalized at the end of 2017 with the Secretary Gen-eral of the OAS. Currently, CONGOPE and its American counterparts accompanied by the OAS, are in the process of elaborating agreements and stat-utes that will make this space operational. The first official meeting of sub-national governments and the OAS is planned for 2020.

The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), with extensive cross-border work in Latin America, has also applauded this initiative. "We welcome the measures put in place by the OAS to strengthen spaces for dia-logue with regional governments. In recent times there has been a lack of a greater presence of the OAS in governance issues, and especially on the growing role of local and intermediate governments. These bear many development responsibilities (often without the corresponding funding), espe-cially when it comes to less developed, more peripheral and even remote territories, often with very difficult working conditions, lack of competen-cies, etc. For this reason, we can only applaud the fact that they are being supported", said its Secretary General, Martín Guillermo.