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OAS Secretary General calls upon the private sector of the Americas “to take advantage of the opportunities” offered by the current economic situation

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, participated today, together with the Vice Minister of Cooperation and Development of El Salvador, Jaime Miranda, and the Vice President of the Private Sector of the Americas, Enrique de Obarrio, in the opening session of the second day of deliberations of the VII Forum of the Private Sector of the Americas, which is being held in El Salvador in the framework of the forty-first regular session of the OAS General Assembly. The theme for the VII Forum is “Competitiveness and Security for Development.”

During his remarks, the head of the hemispheric organization called upon the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities emerging in the Hemisphere in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. “We need a greater presence in world markets if we are to increase our competitiveness significantly,” he said, and this assumes “smoother functioning of our productive processes, along with public-private cooperation and a capacity to solve our region’s problems.”

The Secretary General listed what he considers to be the three major challenges facing the Hemisphere. The first is the continued existence of “weak states,” whose deficiencies are exacerbated by their having to meet the social demands of their populations; the second is that the Americas continues to be “one of the most unequal regions in the world”; and the third is that “crime” is consistently mentioned in surveys as the problem of greatest concern to the peoples of the region.

Addressing those problems, he noted, would require cooperation between the public and private sectors. “We can only redress the prevailing inequality and strengthen our public systems, particularly in the area of social services, through a close partnership between the public and private sectors. We have to work together to make progress on these issues,” the Secretary General said. He also expressed the hope that it would be possible during that session of the General Assembly “to determine which policies states can adopt to combat the scourge of organized crime, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and piracy.”

During the forum, the Secretary General referred to the recent readmission of Honduras into the OAS and to the installation of a new “democratically elected” government in Haiti. “These results,” he pointed out, “indicate that the crises have been overcome, and this enables us to discuss other matters, with only a year remaining before the next Summit of the Americas. It could not have happened at a better time.

The Vice President of the Private Sector of the Americas thanked the Secretary General for “his initiative of opening the doors to the OAS, which has made it possible for us to generate public-private sector dialogue aimed at achieving consensus and decide on joint action with regard to the regional development agenda.”

De Obarrio affirmed that “competitiveness and development” are concepts that are increasingly present on the agenda of countries, and it is therefore imperative
for the public and the private sector to continue to work hand in hand.”

Lastly, the Vice Minister of Cooperation and Development of El Salvador pointed out that the Forum offered “an opportunity for discussion among entrepreneurs and international organizations, in order to share experiences and evaluate possible options for supporting the private sector and for motivating them to be more decisive in the role they are called upon to play in national development processes.”

Vice Minister Miranda affirmed that “we have to realize that, when governments and the diverse sectors of civil society join forces, capacities, and resources, positive results can be achieved in the medium and long terms,” which will accrue to the direct benefit of the people.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-702/11