ProCórdoba Agency applied for the World Humanitarian Summit by presenting a program called  “Humanitarian Aid and Private Sector,” which has been carried out from the area of Cooperation and International Relations and has been selected to participate in the exhibit of such a summit. It consisted in “a space devoted to showing the work, products and programs of the governments, organizations, bodies, companies and other institutions and associations in support of the humanitarian action,” the coordinators explained.

The Humanitarian Summit called by the General Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon was held under the slogan «One Humanity: Shared Responsibility» from 22nd to 24th May, 2016 in Istanbul - Turkey. Representatives of 173 countries attended the summit under a modality that incorporated States, international organizations, humanitarian institutions, private sector and other stakeholders in the same event.

The program of ProCórdoba includes actions that aim at the participation of companies in the world's specialized fairs of the sector, training courses and publication of a Manual on International Acquisitions of Humanitarian Supplies. Last year, it led the creation of the Export Group SEA (Supplies for Emergency and Humanitarian Aid). This group is made up of six companies that provide products, services and solutions linked to this field: INFOREST, CIS GROUP, R&O VALLE, JOSE GUMA, SAVANT PHARM and MR TECHNOLOGIES. 

In this opportunity, Miguel Peláez from INFOREST, on behalf of GRUPO EXPORTADOR SEA, together with the Manager of Cooperation and International Relations of ProCórdoba, Viviana Arias participated in the Summit with an institutional stand of the Agency.

This first Humanitarian Summit called by the United Nations Organization (UNO) is the culmination of an almost three year old engagement process on the Agenda for the Humanity that also included prior regional consults in all over the world. 

Around 200 organizations were part of the exhibit, with a representation of all the continents, different actors and stakeholders. Among them, all the agencies of the United Nations linked to the sector, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the specialized NGO such as Oxfam, Save the Children, regional organizations such as African Union, ASEAN, among others had a stand. Regarding this, it is important to say that ProCórdoba was the only organization for Export Promotion that was present in the exhibit.

Through its participation, ProCórdoba exemplifies a sub-national public-private action with a global scope and impact on the articulation with other actors. From the Agency, a study of companies with the capacity to provide products, services or solutions linked to this sector and in the second semester, a workshop and an exhibit will be carried out in the city of Córdoba. 

The Private Sector was included as a special topic of the Summit. There were panels oriented to debating on the importance of public-private initiatives and its impacts. Moreover, good practices that are being implemented in different parts of the world were shared. These modalities are promoted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), among others. One of the initiatives that were promoted was The Connecting Business Initiative (CBI) to better link the resources and the abilities of the private sector before, during and after the emergencies.