More than 130 Spanish institutions celebrate the achievements of public cooperation in the world

The event brought together for the first time in Spain more than 130 institutions from the fields of justice, security, environment, transport and mobility, autonomous communities and city councils, among others, who reviewed the most recent achievements in international cooperation. The Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, opened the event by highlighting the role of the Spanish public sector: “Spain plays a very important role and has a public sector that we can be very satisfied with in terms of international recognition, the respect we have wherever we go. But we are stronger acting at the European level”.

The meeting reviewed some of the most recent achievements of international cooperation, such as the Law on territorial development in Costa Rica supported by the Government of Aragon, the generation of regional climate scenarios in Central America promoted by the AEMET, the creation of police networks to fight trafficking in the Sahel and organized crime in Latin America, or specific twinning programs such as the regulations on the transport of dangerous goods in Morocco. These are just a few examples of the international cooperation of our institutions, which each year mobilizes more than 700 professionals in 128 countries through the FIIAPP, the Spanish Cooperation entity specialized in the articulation of direct cooperation between institutions.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, declared at the closing of the event that “it is through public cooperation that we can accompany public policy reform processes that benefit citizens”. In this sense, he thanked the Spanish institutions “for their work sharing Public Talent, you can count on me”.

The Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, also wanted to celebrate the Public Talent telematically. Through the screen, she declared that “public service is the engine that starts and develops the public policies of all democratic institutions, which respond to the needs of citizens. It is, therefore, an essential piece in the construction of fairer and more egalitarian societies and, as such, it is logical that it receives the recognition it deserves”.

He also recognized the work of public administration professionals: “Thanks to FIIAPP, a good number of public servants, including myself, have had the opportunity to make their knowledge available to the administrations of other countries. Being able to carry out this dual task benefits both our foreign action and other countries, and it is a privilege that we must take advantage of.

First Vice-President and Minister Nadia Calviño greets upon her arrival at the Public Talent for the World event.
The event was also attended by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, who recognized Spain’s role in cooperation: “Spanish cooperation is a benchmark in the world for how we cooperate through dialogue and active listening with partner countries”.

The director of the FIIAPP, Anna Terrón, emphasized that “this is an act of the FIIAPP family, which is made up of all the people who have worked with us for more than 20 years to contribute to public cooperation”.

Protagonists of Spanish public talent in the world
The panel discussions were led by eight public servants who have been directly involved in cooperation projects: Joaquín Olona, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Environment of the Government of Aragon; Rosa Ana Morán, Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor; Ernesto Rodríguez, State Meteorologist; Alicia Malo, Head of the International Cooperation Division of the National Police; Alain Cuenca, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies; Francisca Rodríguez, expert of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda; José de la Mata, central examining magistrate of the National High Court and national member of Eurojust; and General Francisco Espadas, Major General of the Civil Guard. The Director of the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) and the Director General of Development Policies also participated, as well as the special intervention of Clarisa Hardy, Chilean Minister during Bachelet’s first term in office.