02 May More than 150 experts from a dozen countries exchange knowledge on cross-border cooperation in Uruguay

The Rio Minho basin was represented by the EGTC Rio Minho

The Administrative Commission of the Uruguay River hosted this Tuesday, May 2, at its headquarters in Paysandú (Uruguay) the international seminar “Governance development and environmental changes”, in which 150 delegates and experts from a dozen countries in Europe and Latin America debated the role of municipalities in the economic development and environmental sustainability of international water basins.

The meeting, financed by the European Union as part of an initiative aimed at exchanging knowledge on cross-border cooperation, had the participation of groups of municipalities from the Uruguay River basin (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), as well as of lakes Alqueva (Spanish-Portuguese border) and Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru). Likewise, national representatives and experts from the Rhine (basin located in several European states) and Catamayo-Chira (Ecuador and Peru) participated.

The Rio Minho basin was represented by Xabier Macías, technician of the Cerveira-Tomiño Eurocity, who presented in Uruguay the model of cooperation between local authorities, focusing on the importance of the cross-border structure and the Eurocities of the basin in the sustainable development of the territory through which the river runs.

For his part, Uxío Benítez, director of the EGTC, participated online to highlight the interest of Portuguese and Galician municipalities in exchanging knowledge and experiences with localities in other European and Latin American basins.

The international forum is part of a cooperation initiative that, on basin governance, finances the ADELANTE2 program of the European Union and coordinates the Association of European Border Regions (ARGE). The project will close next Friday, May 5, in Montevideo with the formation of a Euro-Latin American network of cross-border governance of basins and with various twinning activities between municipalities of both continents, a process that began in November 2022 with the visit of mayors from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to Miño.