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Agreement Workshop For Civil Society To Be
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EU Association
Agreement Workshop For Civil Society To Be
Held In Liberia
(InfoWebPress) – Who can access financial
and technical assistance that the Europeans
will provide as part of its upcoming
association agreement with Central America
and how to do it are the main topics of five
workshops and informational sessions that
that will be conducted throughout the
country.
The workshops will be held in Liberia, San
Carlos, Limon, Perez Zeledon and Puntarenas
during March and April, in days that are yet
to be announced.
Also presented at the workshops will be
information regarding the Environmental
Security Program for Coastal and Marine
Communities in the Pacific Region, which
includes Santa Cruz. This program’s goal is
improve the development levels of the
country’s coastal and insular regions by
incorporating elements of citizen security
and production alternatives, at the same
involving the issues of the environment and
gender equality.
This initiative also seeks to reinforce the
community police program in the towns chosen
as part of this effort; create a marine
security program directed toward the
residents of those communities; and draft an
environmental education program for those
living in participating communities for
protection of their natural resources.
The workshops were announced last March 2 by
representatives of institutions handling
negotiation of the association agreement.
Costa Rican and European Union officials
also talked about cooperation being the
third component of the agreement (which also
includes a free trade deal), and the
importance that civil society and the
production sector learn about its benefits.
Participants in the event listened to
presentations by the Minister and Vice
Minister of National Planning and Economic
Policy, Roberto Gallardo and Carla Morales;
the Costa Rican Ambassador to the EU,
Roberto Echandi; the EU’s foreign relations
director for Latin America, Stefano Sannino;
and the EU delegation chief in Costa Rica,
Cristina Martins, among others.
Costa Rica is expected to receive 34 million
euros in assistance as part of the
association agreement through 2013. These
funds will be used for five large projects,
which are being determined. How the monies
will be allocated and who can access them is
what the workshops seek to determine,
offering citizens information and allowing
to ask questions about the process.
The Ministry of National Planning and
Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN) is participating
in this negotiation because it is manager of
international assistance coming into Costa
Rica. It is assisted in this process by the
Ministry of Foreign Trade and the
Chancellor’s Office, which handle the
association agreement’s trade and political
components, respectively.
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