The director of the Navarra Center for International Development, Luis Ravina, travelled to Guatemala during the month of January to hold meetings with representatives of different institutions and to strengthen relations and collaboration agreements, accompanied by Rodrigo Asturias (from the associated Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo Regional, CINDERE, of the UNIS).
The first meeting took place on Monday 24 January at the Bank of Guatemala with José Alfredo Blanco and Óscar Monterroso, vice-president and manager of Banguat respectively. The meeting focused on the analysis of remittances to Guatemala, which account for 15% of GDP, and which require further research in the context of the Northern Triangle.
On the same day, Luis Ravina and Rodrigo Asturias also met with the 2020 Foundation, an analysis centre that promotes proposals aimed at strengthening the rule of law. Together with Mario GarcÃa Lara, they discussed the possibility of developing research to strengthen the country's institutions.
The third meeting took place the following day, 25 January, with Roberto Gutiérrez, president of the National Network of Management Groups in Guatemala, which promotes initiatives that foster local economic development. Specifically, they discussed the importance of the rural perspective when analysing the evolution of the Guatemalan economy.
Luis Ravina and Rodrigo Asturias also met that day with Miguel González, from the Spanish Technical Cooperation Office, with whom they discussed AECID's priorities for 2022. On the other hand, NCID representatives held meetings with Samuel Trejo, Dean of Economics and Business at Universidad del Istmo, and with José Hernández, Academic Vice-Rector of UNIS.
The meetings on 26 January were with Bernardo de Lizaur, Counsellor of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala, followed by Alberto Cortezón, Head Counsellor of the Cooperation Section of the European Union. Luis Ravina and Rodrigo Asturias met the following day with Silvia Tamayac, from the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Guatemala. In all three cases, they presented the work of the NCID and the possibility of collaborating with ICEX, as well as Europe's priorities in environmental and digital matters.
Finally, the NCID representatives met on Friday 28 January with Anu Rajaraman, USAID representative in Guatemala. Again, the importance of research on remittances and on impact assessments of development cooperation policies was discussed.