The project seeks to promote reading in the Colombia - Ecuador through the Library Network of the two countries.
The Minister of Culture, Maria Claudia López and the Minister of Education of Ecuador, Gloria Vidal Illingworth, met in Bogota, Wednesday 7 November, to sign the Inter-agency cooperation agreement between the two countries. The objective of the agreement is to strengthen the integration process of the Colombian-Ecuadorian border network of public libraries and open educational libraries.
This agreement aims to run bimonthly film programs at the border, traveling puppet shows, provision of library materials in libraries and link both countries virtually through the informative blog ‘Border Libraries’. Also Colombia will open new libraries in the southwestern department of Nariño.
As joint activities both ministries will work to implement training programs to promote and encourage reading, promote the development of a binational library at the Binational Center for Culture in Rumichaca the border library as well as the consolidation of a border library "Juan Montalvo de Ipiales" (Nariño) and turn it into a documentation center specializing in issues of history and regional culture.
Initially this agreement will be valid for two years from March 2013, but can be renovated according to its progress. The institutions responsible for the implementation of this agreement are the National Network of Libraries by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia and the National Library by the Ministry of Education of Ecuador.
The signing of this agreement is the result of the commitment made in September 2006, which was based on the agreement creating the Colombian-Ecuadorian Border Network of Public Libraries in 1991.