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Peruvian Foreign Minister is Elected President of the 40th General Assembly

  June 7, 2010

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, José Antonio García Belaúnde, today was elected as representative of the host country to preside over the 40th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) during the first session of the Assembly, held in the Museo de la Nación. He was elected by acclamation after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Security, Labor, Immigration and Social Security of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sam Condor, presented his nomination, seconded by Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Until then, the Interim Presidency was filled by Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno, who was chosen by lot according to precedence as required by the regulations of the Assembly, and who extended to the new President his “best wishes in your work.” For his part, Minister García Belaúnde reiterated his country’s commitment “to make the utmost effort so that this Assembly may mark a starting point for new tasks and new joint initiatives.”

The representative of the government of President Alan García also said that “we live in a region where we have resorted more and more to different mechanisms, all peaceful, to find a solution to our differences, and opting for peace and security is what inspired our proposal to make this Assembly the place for a point of reflection of what we wish the continent to be.”

The Minister concluded by stating his commitment “to make my utmost effort to achieve satisfactory and high quality results. We must seek the greatest common denominators and not settle for the lowest ones.”

During the First Plenary Session, attended by the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, and Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, the two-day meeting’s agenda was approved and the General Committee was formed, to be headed by the Permanent Representative of Belize to the OAS, Ambassador Nestor Mendez.

Photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org

Reference: E-232/10