Uruguay’s Planning and Budget Office retained FERRERE to provide assistance with the implementation and regulation of the Agency of International Cooperation, which was officially launched on April 28, 2011.
The aim of the Agency is to centralize receiving, granting and administering international cooperation funds, as well as coordinating the work of different government entities and designing international cooperation policy.
FERRERE assisted the government in designing the organizational and budget structure and the regulation applicable to the Agency in its relationship with other entities. The team analyzed all existing regulations on international cooperation and all entities involved in the matter, and then helped drafting a new comprehensive regulation for the new Agency both at the legal and regulatory levels.
Senior counsel Cristina Vázquez, who leads FERRERE’s Administrative and Regulatory practice, said: “The process for the implementation of the Agency was very interesting; it involved harmonizing the objectives of the government with constitutional and legal provisions that set the framework for public entities’ functioning. There had been earlier attempts to centralize international cooperation efforts but, once the government decided a separate entity was the best way to do so, it was a challenge to set up the most suitable structure to achieve a fluent operation of the Agency, in particular in its communication with foreign cooperation agencies and countries”.
Counsel to Government of Uruguay FERRERE
Partner Sandra González, senior counsel Cristina Vázquez, and associates Soledad Díaz, Ximena Barbosa and Gerardo Barcos.