1.8 Cross-border cooperation
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International cooperation
At the multilateral level, the biggest cooperation concerning youth is carried out with the Ibero-American countries.
Ibero-American Summits
The annual meetings (from 1991) of the Heads of State and Government are the annual meetings of the 22 countries inside the Organization of Ibero-American States (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos). They deal with a wide variety of topics, including youth policies. At the end of October 2016, the Youth Ibero-American Agreement was signed between member countries. The compromise is a political-institutional initiative to form an alliance between different sectors and actors with the purpose of improving the development of public policies of youth and the protection of youth.
Although, country youth agencies have launched a linking stratregy called the Youth Pact 2030 (PACTO JUVENTUD 2030).
Youth International Agency for Ibero-America
Regarding this aspect, Spain belongs to the Ibero-American Youth International Organization (OIJ), along with other 22 countries.
It is an inter-governmental organisation comprising the youth ministries of the Ibero-American Community countries; its main goal is the inclusion and integration of all youth, through the public policies for youth.
Relaunched in 2012, it finds its origin in the Ibero-American Youth Organisation launched in 1992. It is based in Madrid.
Council of Europe
Participation in the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) that creates an space of cooperation between the responsible personnel of the bodies focused in youth matters and the representatives of ministries with youth competences. The CDEJ was set to boost cooperation between governments in the youth area. Also, the committee offers a framework to compare the different youth policies of the participants.
Besides all these international agreements, it has to be taken into account that the Autonomous Regions also carry out cooperation and external actions. Like the participation of the Youth Institute of Extremadura (Instituto de la Juventud de Extremadura) in the Eurodesk program with a local information office. Or the participation of the Andalusian Youth Institute (Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud) in European programs like the DiscoverEU.