Caracas, 8 November.- The Permanent Secretariat of SELA informed today that the Italo-Latin American Institute (IILA) and the Latin American Economic System (SELA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to initiate a process of mutual cooperation for the benefit of both institutions’ members.

 

The document was signed on 31 October in Rome by the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Otto Boye Soto, and the General Secretary of IILA, Ambassador Ludovico Incisa di Camerana, who exchanged ideas on the cooperation potential that exists between both organizations.

 

The eight-point Memorandum drawn up between the two institutions agrees “to concert on a permanent basis for the purpose of providing IILA member countries and SELA member states effective project research, assessment and implementation tools in order to identify and value joint interests in the regional and inter-regional framework.”

 

In this regard, a number of sectors with cooperation potential were identified, including reciprocated invitations to participate in meetings fostered by each of these institutions on issues concerning Latin American and Caribbean integration, the evolution of the European Union, the international scenario and the globalization process.

 

The two institutions will also collaborate in promoting initiatives for assessment and exchanges of experiences in the services sector as regards the development of small and medium-size enterprises, and will dedicate special attention to initiatives emerged as a result of the initiatives for infra-structural transformations of transportation and communications sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Similarly, they will foster the joint study of initiatives that will be submitted before national, regional and international organizations dedicated to development cooperation.

 

IILA, whose members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, is an institution whose objective is to develop and coordinate research and documentation concerned with the problems, achievements, and perspectives of its members in the cultural, scientific, economic, technical and social ambits.

 

SELA, which was established in 1975 and groups twenty-eight (28) Latin American and Caribbean countries, is an organization for the consultation, coordination and promotion of  economic and social issues.