As a result of the agreements reached at the Ibero-American Conference of Ministers of Labour and Senior Social Security Officials held in Punta Cana on the 9th and 10th February 2023, the Ibero-American Network of Public Employment Services (la Red Iberoamericana de Servicios Públicos de Empleo, RISPE) was set up on this past 23rd of May.

The member states belonging to this network and involved in the launching and implementation of this initiative are: Chile, Portugal, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador and Spain. Panama and Mexico have also recently joined the Network. We hope that soon all the member states of the Ibero-American Conference willing to do so will join the Network.
RISPE aims to encourage and foster the co-operation and collaboration between the Public Employment Services of all the Member States, particularly in the field of employment policy, with special focus on :

• The management and development of support programmes aimed at boosting employment and job placement for the unemployed.
• Vocational guidance, upgrading and reskilling of workers to adapt their skills and qualifications to the labour market demands.
• The processing of unemployment benefits as protection measures to prevent social exclusion.

As established in the RISPE regulations, the network will be made up of an Assembly, a biennial and rotating Presidency, as well as a Technical Secretariat. From the constitution of the network until the 2nd of January 2025, the Presidency will be held by the Director General of the SEPE. After the 2nd of January 2025, the presidency will alternate according to the date of signature of the minutes by each state.

The Technical Secretariat acts as a permanent support body for the Presidency, which permanently depends/will depend on Spain, and more precisely, on the Deputy Director General for Institutional Relations and Legal Assistance of SEPE.

Finally, we look forward to a fruitful collaboration between WAPES and RISPE, given our shared objectives within our respective fields of action.

The President, Gerardo Ardoy