The presentation of the research project led by Iliana Olivié and Juan Ponce represents an opportunity to discuss the role played by remittances in the development of a country such as Ecuador, which has a large proportion of its population living abroad. The research highlights the impact of remittances on Ecuador's development at a macro level, as well as examining to what extent these payments contribute to the equilibrium and stability of the balance of payments, in addition to their impact on social development and the eradication of poverty. The workshop has been devised as a space for debate and joint reflection on the subject of remittances viewed as an instrument for development.

Encuentro entre representantes de administraciones públicas catalanas y expertos para debatir, por un lado, los contenidos del informe GOLD-CGLU sobre descentralización en el Mediterráneo preparado por la Diputación de Barcelona y, por otro, acerca de cómo afianzar esta prioridad en el futuro.

Edited by Manuel Balado, President of the International Institute of Political Science, Immigration, State and Law is a compilation of pieces by 76 specialised authors who, arguing from different perspectives, tackle the legal-political challenges that immigration represents in globalised societies. In the book, which is published by Editorial Bosch, legal experts, academics and political representatives discuss the consequences of migration flows and the policies and instruments that are required to deal with them.

The Fundació Caixa Catalunya and the CIDOB Foundation are to hold the 5th awards of two grants for Masters Courses at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The event, which will be presided over by Narcís Serra, President of the CIDOB Foundation and Caixa Catalunya, will also feature the participation of Jaume García, President of the Association of Former LSE Students in Catalonia (ALSEC) and of Andrés Ortega.

In the wake of the "crisis" in the management of diversity, many European countries have opted for the citizenship approach. This debate suggests that we could be facing a significant change in orientation, a political response that is being used as an orientation that is both reactive and proactive. The seminar was organised with the aim of exploring the current European debate in more detail, by bringing together research studies that analyse the new situation in its plurality of perspectives. The objective of the seminar is to examine the institutional and legal aspects of citizenship policies in the European Union and other immigration-receiving countries.

Presentation chaired by Marco Aparicio Wilhelmi, Assistant Lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Girona and member of the UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Human Development, in which he coordinates the module "Human rights and sustainable human development”. He is a founding member and has been Secretary of the Asociación de Docencia e Investigación sobre Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas (Association for teaching and researching on indigenous peoples' rights, ADIDPI). His most important publications in the field of indigenous peoples' rights include: Aparicio Wilhelmi, Marco (coordinator), Caminos hacia el reconocimiento. Pueblos indígenas, derechos y pluralismo, Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat de Girona, 2005 and “El derecho de libre determinación de los pueblos indígenas” in Berraondo, M. (coordinator), Derechos Humanos y Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, 2006.

“Democratic appropriation and mutual responsibilisation: New challenges for relations between partner governments and donors" * will be held in Madrid (17 June), Barcelona (18 June) and Bilbao (19 June), with the aim of generating a debate around the concept of aid effectiveness, which arises from the proposal for staging the next High Level Forum in Accra, based on aspects such as:

- “Democratic appropriation” and the submission of the accounts of partner governments to their citizens.

- The changing relations between donors and partners and the mechanisms for mutual responsibilisation, the exercising of power and the political space for self-determination, and the ability of donors to evaluate and influence these two dimensions.

*This activity takes place within the FRIDE project on Armonización Harmonization and Democratisation.

The CIDOB Foundation plans to bring together experts in the study of Central Asia and neighbouring countries in order to create a common research agenda on this region which, though little-known in Spain, possesses an enormous importance for the energy supply of the major powers and international security, featuring elements of rivalry and cooperation, and risk and opportunity. Within the framework of the Central Asia Observatory that has been jointly created by Casa Àsia and the Elcano Royal Institute, the CIDOB Foundation will be hosting this space for encounter in which participants can carry out a regular analysis of the internal political processes, dynamics of regional cooperation and the insertion of Central Asia into the international context of Eurasia, as well as Europe and Spain's relations with the region.