Brasília, August 25, 2026.
Representatives of the Member Countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) are meeting on August 25 and 26 at the Organization’s Permanent Secretariat in Brasília to advance the organization and functioning of the Group of Focal Points for South-South Cooperation and strengthen regional coordination in this area.
The ACTO Regional Workshop of the Group of Focal Points for South-South Cooperation: Conceptual and Operational Alignment was opened by ACTO Executive Director Vanessa Grazziotin, who welcomed the delegations and highlighted the importance of continuing to strengthen cooperation mechanisms among the Amazonian countries.
Over the two-day workshop, participants will work on building common understandings of South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation, exchanging national experiences, and reaching consensus on operational aspects for the functioning of the Group of Focal Points. The objective is to translate the existing political mandate into concrete mechanisms for regional coordination and action.
The creation of the Group responds to Resolution RES/XIV/MRE-ACTO/10, adopted by the Foreign Ministers of the ACTO Member Countries in 2023. The resolution recognizes South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation as strategic instruments for strengthening coordinated action in favor of the sustainable development of the Amazon and establishes the Group as a space to improve the coordination, articulation, and promotion of regional cooperation activities.
From National Experiences to a Regional Agenda
One of the central focuses of the workshop is to learn about and compare the different experiences of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela in the area of South-South Cooperation. The Member Countries have diverse institutional structures, cooperation modalities, and implementation mechanisms. Therefore, the meeting seeks to identify areas of convergence, opportunities for coordination, and elements that can contribute to more coordinated regional action.
During the first day, a conceptual alignment on South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation is conducted, followed by an analysis of national realities, covering the structures responsible for managing cooperation, the main regulatory instruments, institutional capacities, modalities used, and examples of initiatives developed by the countries.
Based on this assessment, participants work in thematic groups on South-South Cooperation modalities, institutional structures, and implementation modalities, with the aim of formulating operational recommendations and identifying common priorities.
The second day will be mainly dedicated to developing proposals for the working process of the Group of Focal Points. Discussions will address aspects such as coordination channels with the Permanent Secretariat of ACTO, regional coordination mechanisms, communication with national authorities, the dynamics and frequency of meetings, and the technical outputs that the Group may develop.
Expected outcomes of the workshop include a regional inventory of South-South Cooperation modalities, a comparative mapping of national structures responsible for their management, a typology of implementation modalities, and a consensus-based proposal for organizing the work of the Group of Focal Points. These inputs will also contribute to strengthening regional governance of cooperation and to the implementation of the Amazonian Strategic Cooperation Agenda (ASCA), once updated.
The conclusions and results developed during the two days will subsequently be submitted for validation and approval at a formal meeting of the Group of Focal Points for South-South Cooperation.
The workshop is held within the framework of the project “Support for the Development and Implementation of the Amazonian Strategic Cooperation Agenda (ASCA)”, implemented by the Permanent Secretariat of ACTO in coordination with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), which also supports the activities of the Group of Focal Points for South-South Cooperation.
