27/09/2017
The European Commission programme EUROsociAL+ Is continuing to work on improving regional development in Latin America
From left to right: Juan Manuel Santomé and Pedro Flores standing next to Enrique Conde León, the Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Spain, and the Senior Adviser at the Embassy of France, Stéphane Toulet
The European Union, through the EUROsociAL+ Programme, led by the FIIAPP, supports Costa Rica in transferring knowledge and exchanging experience with countries in Europe and Latin America that have overcome their internal asymmetries thanks to the impetus of regional development policies.
Pedro Flores, the Director of FIIAPP, and Juan Manuel Santomé, the Director of the EUROsociAL+ Programme, have been received by the Special Mixed Commission for Regional Development of the Legislative Assembly in Costa Rica for the purpose of exchanging information on the progress of Costa Rica’s draft Regional Development Law 19.959.
The Commission of the Legislative Assembly and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN), have together prepared this draft Law, the aim of which is to drive regional development in Costa Rica, with the aim of improving conditions and quality of life for the whole population.
The Minister for National Planning and Economic Policy, Olga Marta Sánchez, recalled that the support provided by EUROsociAL began in 2012 with the preparation of the Regional Development Plans, and that “this provided the starting point for work on a draft Law, a process that also had the support of the European Union, which enabled us to familiarise ourselves with its experience of regional development”.
The Director of FIIAPP emphasised the role played by Costa Rica in all the areas of work supported by EUROsociAL in the country, and specifically the progress made in the area of regional development. Both Pedro Flores and Juan Manuel Santomé, the Director of the EUROsociAL Programme, have acknowledged the efforts made by the country’s legislative and executive authorities to ensure that regional development becomes State policy, and have confirmed that support will continue so that this aim is achieved.
The draft Regional Development Law was drawn up by the Special Mixed Commission last January, and is now in the process of being approved in a plenary session. “We hope it will become law during the next period of special sessions”, said Alvarado Bogantes, a member of the legislature.
