The Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (FIEP) and the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation (ABC), federal government agency linked to the Ministry of External Relations, signed on April 15, in Curitiba (Brazil), a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which foresees ABC’s institutional and economic support in actions oriented towards transfer of Brazilian know-how and technical cooperation among cities from other countries.

International Training Centre for Local Actors in Latin America (CIFAL), based in Curitiba. CIFAL is coordinated locally under a partnership between FIEP and UNITAR. The objective is to use the support ABC for leveraging technical cooperation on sustainable urban development practices, aiming at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.

The main activities outlined in the MoU are capacity-building and training programmes for representatives from governments at local, subnational and national level, as well as non-profit organizations in these countries. CIFAL Curitiba will utilize its expertise on training methodologies to promote the exchange of innovative experiences and good practices, in the scope of environment, sustainable urbanization, and local urbanization. The programmatic areas established for 2011 comprise sanitation, energy, urban mobility and logistics, Latin-American productive integration, management of historical and artistic heritage, and integration of cities located along the border.

The president of FIEP, Rodrigo da Rocha Loures, also presides the board of CIFAL Curitiba.