Interview with Bernard GRAU

1) What themes of cooperation have been approved since the GIP SPSI mission?

Statements issued by Peruvian government officials and representatives of the Andean Health Organization have endorsed the findings of the GIP SPSI scoping mission, both in letter and in spirit.
Key issues to be addressed are medical equipment needs, hospital management and ways of incorporating hospitals into the social fabric.
A more recent and very encouraging theme of cooperation is the agreement in principle reached by the Andean Health Organization to create an Andean Drugs Agency based on the French model. The move came at the Organization’s meeting of 24 March, attended by ministers from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia.

2) What are the respective roles of the French Embassy and GIP SPSI and how do they coordinate their activities?

The respective roles of the French Embassy and the GIP on cooperation projects are dictated by common sense. The Embassy, operating on the ground, is better equipped to gather information, liaise with the Peruvian authorities and lay the groundwork for the ensuing stages of a cooperation process initiated by the GIP. The French Embassy is to all extents and purposes the spokesperson of the GIP. The various themes of cooperation are decided on jointly; the Embassy then has the task of keeping the GIP informed of developments in those areas.

3) How do you explain the choice of Lima as a platform for cooperation in the area of health and social protection?

Firstly, Lima is the home of the Secretariat of the Andean Health Organization, a regional organisation that extends beyond the “Andean Community” to incorporate Chile, a member of the World Health Organization.
The outreach of this multilateral health institution, with Lima at its centre, is incontestable. Lima is also the home of many specialist institutes and research centres which make a strong and lasting contribution to the various international programmes in the sector.
Lastly, the projects concerning the creation of an Andean Drugs Agency and an Andean social security mechanism are very important steps in the integration process and the first of their kind on the continent (no such schemes exist as yet in the Mercosur, the Central American Integrated System or the Caribbean).

4) Are the recent political changes in some of the Andean countries likely to have any impact on projects like the Andean Social Security Instrument and the Andean Drugs Agency?

Political change is a natural consequence of the electoral processes that have occurred in the countries concerned.
Given that GIP SPSI activities address key public welfare issues, the vagaries of the electoral process have very little impact on the nature of the issues addressed or the objectives sought.
The French cooperation community does however take pains to establish ties with new governments to ensure that projects are able to proceed as planned.