PR No.: PR 16070

United Nations entities as well as international financial organizations, European-level institutions and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain met at the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization in Madrid to discuss the potential of working in a coordinated manner.

“The international community has an extensive and valuable representation in Spain and it is important to consider ways of working together among the different organizations, whether they are part of the United Nations system or of other frameworks,” said the UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, in the introduction to the meeting.

“The world today suffers from a large number of deficits, including that in understanding between cultures, something the tourism sector and our Organization—which encourages cooperation with governments, civil society and other actors—addresses with special priority,” added the head of the UNWTO.

“In a time when cooperation among organizations is an essential method of work in the development agenda, this initiative of creating the Group of International Organizations in Spain becomes necessary in order to facilitate a new era of working together,” said Francisco Javier Sanabria, Director-General for the United Nations and Human Rights in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain.

At the meeting, the participants discussed the creation of a working group to facilitate exchanges between the organizations and the development of joint projects.

Contacts:

UNWTO Media Officer Rut Gomez Sobrino
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 / rgomez@unwto.org

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 / comm@UNWTO.org