The Bogotá-Cundinamarca Regional Planning Board (BCRPB), supported by UNCRD since its inception in 2001, is considered a successful strategy to achieve inter-institutional collaborative work and integrated development management of the Bogotá-Cundinamarca (B-C) region. Towards this aim, the UNCRD LAC Office has implemented various training, research, and technical assistance activities to build the capacity of the various regional stakeholders so that they may jointly identify common problems, build a shared vision of the future of the region, and develop strategic actions based on cooperative work and agreement.

Capitalizing on the work developed by the BCRPB, the new administrations that took office in January 2008 confirmed their intention to continue the regional integration process constituting the so-called "Capital Region Bogotá-Cundinamarca," and agreed on an agenda that comprises six axes of strategic intervention: (1) institutional development; (2) competitiveness and economic development; (3) human security; (4) environmental sustainability; (5) habitat and public services; and (6) mobility for integration. Territorial planning is viewed as a key instrument for attaining regional objectives.

Territorial integration strategies will demand not only political will, but also continuous efforts to strengthen the capacities of public officials responsible for the implementation of this agenda. Within this background, and in continuation of the training and technical assistance programme initiated in 2001, UNCRD, in collaboration with the entities of the B-C Capital Region, implemented a workshop aimed at the sharing of information about the current agenda and its related programmes and projects, confirming the shared vision of the future of the region, and discussing the institutional and capacity-building requirements for the implementation of the regional agenda.