A stocktaking workshop of the PAGE program for Uruguay was held this Friday, the 21st July 2017, at the Uruguay Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM).
Uruguay is one of PAGE’s newest partner countries, joining the partnership at the PAGE Ministerial Conference in March this year.
As a demand-driven project, countries wishing to join the partnership must complete a comprehensive application process, demonstrating cross-ministerial support for green economy transition in the country. Uruguay acceded to PAGE thanks to the commitment of Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, several ministries and institutions of the academy, the private sector and civil society. They are, in addition to the MIEM, the Ministry of Economy and Finance; The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment; The Ministry of National Defense; The Ministry of Labor and Social Security; The Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries; The Ministry of Health; The Ministry of Tourism; The Office of Planning and Budget; The National Secretariat for Environment, Water and Climate Change; The Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation; The University of the Republic; The University of Montevideo; The Catholic University; Claeh; The PIT-CNT; The Chamber of Industries of Uruguay; The Pando Science and Technology Park; The Cerro Industrial Technology Park; And the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations.
Since welcoming Uruguay to the PAGE family earlier this year, PAGE is setting its focus on catalyzing the process of green economy transition in the country, focusing investments and public policies towards a new generation of resources – cleaner technologies, healthy ecosystems, qualified green manpower – driven by strong institutions and good governance. Together, PAGE and Uruguay will promote the establishment of conditions that will drive increased prosperity, greater equality, conservation of natural resources and the eradication of poverty.
Inter-institutional work
At the opening of the workshop, the undersecretary of MIEM, Guillermo Moncecchi, and the resident coordinator of the United Nations in Uruguay, Mireia Villar, spoke.
Moncecchi said that the work of the UN is taken “very seriously and with great force” in Uruguay. He also welcomed the fact that, since the project was presented in the Environmental National Cabinet, it brought together the multi-stakeholder approach. He considered that it is his “great strength” and the sample of the attitude with which this program is taken in Uruguay.
He also stated that this inter-institutional work “is not exceptional”; On the contrary, it is part of the state of development to which Uruguay has advanced, as the knowledge arising from the government, the academy, the private sector and civil society makes it possible to move to “new stages”. “It is emblematic of the Uruguayan government and society,” he said.
“Looking for what each one has to contribute will give us very good results as a country,” Moncecchi said.
For his part, Villar said that PAGE represents an “open space” and an excellent opportunity to seek connections between the state, academia and the private sector. The objective is to accompany governments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The UN resident coordinator, said that Uruguay is a country ideal characteristics to take the leap to accede to the “second half of the SDG table,” referring to reductions in gaps in health and education, on which there have been years of work with good results.
However, he felt that he should be humble about the overall results obtained in areas such as the green economy, where, he pointed out, Uruguay has some progress to make, for which PAGE could be a valuable resource.
He explained that the alliance of PAGE is a platform for the exchange of knowledge inside and outside the partner countries. For this reason, high-level technical support is offered to those who want to “make a change in their public policies” and ensure policy coherence, avoid redundancy, provide overarching technical guidance, and the tools to measure progress and attract investors.
Villar congratulated Uruguay for wanting to join the Partnership, noting that this model was a good fit and consistent with the rest of the work that the country has done.
After the interventions of Moncecchi and Villar, the activity continued during the day, with interventions from, among others, the Secretariat of PAGE, the OPP, the National Secretariat for Environment, Water and Climate Change and the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development.