ACS Signs MoU with Chile Cooperation Agency to Collaborate on Sustainable Development

ACS Signs MoU with Chile Cooperation Agency to Collaborate on Sustainable Development

 

PORT-OF-SPAIN

The Association of Caribbean States and the Chilean International Cooperation Agency for Development (AGCID) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at creating a sustainable development partnership in the areas of environmental preservation, renewable energy, sustainable tourism, disaster risk reduction, transportation among others. At the ACS Secretariat in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Secretary General Rodolfo Sabonge and Executive Director of AGCID Cristián Jara Brito signed on the dotted line to begin formalising Chile’s cooperation with the ACS, having been an Observer since 1997.

 

The MoU lays the foundation for technical assistance and financial cooperation, scholarships and the provision of specialists on cooperation projects, among other types of collaboration.

 

Secretary General Rodolfo Sabonge affirmed that the signing of the MoU will bring many benefits to the Membership of the ACS. “This Memorandum of Understanding is very timely as we have discussed. The circumstances not only of the region but of the world, in the context of COIVD, climate change, the entire migration issue, the problem of the region, puts us in a situation where multilateralism is the solution. We have to seek cooperation through these mechanisms and solidarity that can help us solve common problems. The Association of Caribbean States is in a privileged position to serve as a bridge between some of the sub-regions in the Greater Caribbean.”

 

Executive Director AGCID Jara Brito said the MoU is part of a process of deepening relationships, especially since globally, circumstances are difficult.

 

“Consensus here is very important, in this context there is a level of importance that we find in an ally such as the Association of Caribbean States to be able to reach and connect different regions and different countries with which we have a long history of cooperation. There has been a long history of relationships but today somehow, they need to be refreshed to overcome some difficulties that are real. We may not be the one to solve them, but we are the ones who can contribute something to the solution, who can contribute something to maintain the dialogue, to be effective, to make sense of public policies, to make sense to our citizens, to our companies to achieve greater development.”

 

Ambassador of Chile to Port-of-Spain, Juan Aníbal Barría Garcia and ACS Director of Cooperation and Resource Mobilisation Ingrid Jacobs, who were also part of the signing ceremony, have been working together to lay the foundation for the MoU and Chile has already facilitated Spanish language classes for staff at the ACS Secretariat.

 

ABOUT THE ACS

Established in 1994, the Association of Caribbean States is an organisation for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in the Greater Caribbean. The organisation’s work is focused on: cooperation in the areas of: disaster risk reduction; sustainable tourism; trade, transport & external economic relations; and the protection of the Caribbean Sea. The ACS has 25 Member States, 10 Associate Members 7 Founding Observers and 29 Observer Countries.

 

ABOUT THE AGCID

La Agencia Chilena de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AGCID) es un servicio público chileno, creado en el año 1990, funcionalmente descentralizado, con personalidad jurídica y patrimonio propio. Su función es captar, proporcionar y administrar recursos de cooperación internacional, a través de la articulación de las ofertas y demandas de cooperación internacional, así como de la difusión de oportunidades de formación y perfeccionamiento de recursos humanos en el exterior.

About the ACS

The Association of Caribbean States is the organization for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean. Its Member States are Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela. Its Associate Members are Aruba, Curacao, (France on behalf of French Guiana, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin ), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Sint Maarten, (The Netherlands on behalf of Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius ), Turks and Caicos.