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Heads of Delegation of the OAS Member States and the Private Sector Agree to Work Together

The Heads of Delegation of the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the private sector of the Americas agreed on the need for closer ties between the public and the private sectors. In statements made during a dialogue held in connection with the forty-first regular session of the General Assembly, inaugurated today in San Salvador, they claimed they could bring peace and security to the Hemisphere and generate equitable economic development.

The Secretary for External Relations of the Organization of American States, Alfonso Quiñónez, said that “consolidating peace, security and cooperation in our Hemisphere requires trust, participation, and the creative capacity of our societies,” and he added that the OAS General Secretariat “recognizes the major contribution made by the private sector to promote social development and sustainable economic growth with equity and social inclusion in the countries of the region.”

Ambassador Quiñónez said the General Secretariat would continue to promote “public-private partnerships in the economic, social, and educational spheres, supported by corporate social responsibility.”

The Vice-Minister of Cooperation and Development of El Salvador, Jaime Miranda, gave assurances that his country reaffirmed its readiness “to restore partnerships with the private sector” and he acknowledged the value and importance of this dialogue in the framework of the General Assembly, calling it “a valuable opportunity to identify the broad outlines of the link between security and development.”

The Salvadoran representative called for “more and stronger public-private partnerships to achieve economic growth, equity, and poverty reduction.” He stressed that the private sector was “a valuable player” that also had to fulfill “a social responsibility” and “generate opportunities for the different segments of society, especially the most vulnerable.”

Vice-Minister Miranda recalled that President Funes had called upon all sectors of Salvadoran society “to achieve a great national dialogue that would help create prosperity and social peace.”

At the meeting, the private sector representatives delivered the conclusions reached at the VII Private Sector Forum of the Americas, held in San Salvador on June 2 and 3. They define competitiveness and security as “inseparable factors.” The Forum had also yielded a set of recommendations regarding corporate social responsibility, innovation, and competitiveness, the business climate, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Representatives of Private Sector of the Americas also asserted that the region “can and must show the world that cooperation acts as a lever to raise competitiveness.” They called for the strengthening and expansion of “opportunities for dialogue with the private sector” and urged that they be linked to the “OAS ministerial meetings, the General Assembly, and the Summits of the Americas.”

Taking part in the dialogue were the Executive Director of Private Sector of the Americas, Jorge Lukowski; the President of Industriales Latinoamericanos (AILA), Henry Kronflem; the President of Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (FUNDEMAS), Elena María de Alfaro; the Attorney of the Canadian Business Council and Representative of the Business Technical Advisory Committee on Labor Matters (CEATAL), John Craig, and the Heads of Delegation of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-710/11