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OAS General Assembly to be held June 3-5, 2012, in Bolivia

The 43rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) will be held June 3-5, 2012, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a decision made today by the institution’s Permanent Council in Washington, DC.

Last June, the OAS General Assembly in El Salvador decided, at the request of the Bolivian Government, to change the dates of the meeting to the beginning of July 2012 in order to avoid a conflict of schedule with the United Nations “Summit on Sustainable Development Rio +20,” also to be held in the South American nation. However, the “Rio +20” Summit has been postponed to a later date, thus allowing the Government of Bolivia to suggest, and the Permanent Council to approve, a reversal to the original date of the OAS General Assembly. This also allows the fulfillment of the requirements of the Rules of the Assembly that stipulate the regular session is to be held on the second trimester of every year.

The Permanent Representative of Bolivia, Diego Pari, reiterated that “The Plurinational State of Bolivia will host the General Assembly as a way of reaffirming its commitment with the goals and principles of the OAS Charter.”

“The challenge and commitment involved in hosting the peoples of the Hemisphere have been taken seriously, with responsibility and total commitment by the authorities of my Government, and I am sure that the support and collaboration of all delegations and their national authorities will contribute to a successful organization and celebration of the event,” he added.

At the same special session, the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, presented his periodic report to the Council on the institution’s recent activities.

Secretary General Insulza referred to the Meeting of Ministers of Public Security held in Trinidad and Tobago, where Member States debated on the modernization, professionalization and use of information technology in police management. He also highlighted that during his visit to Port-of-Spain, the project of arms marking in Trinidad and Tobago was launched.

The head of the OAS also mentioned the Meeting of Ministers of Science, Technology and Innovation in Panamá Meeting of Ministers of Science, Technology and Innovation in Panamá, where Member States adopted the Plan of Action “Towards a 20/25 Vision: Science and Technology for Competitiveness and Prosperity.” The Secretary General expressed his conviction that the document will become “an important contribution for the Summit of the Americas,” to be held in April 2012 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Furthermore, he reported on the Missions of Electoral Observation to Guyana and Saint Lucia, which held their elections on November 28, with respective reports to be presented before the Council “in upcoming days.” “The elections were held in highly normal environments despite the narrow gap in the results in both places,” the Secretary General said.

The leader of the OAS made special emphasis on the execution this week of a seminar on the organization’s Program of Judicial Facilitators an activity recently recognized with the “Innovative Justice” International Award 2011 granted by the International Court in The Hague, and for which he requested greater support from the Member States. The Secretary General highlighted the effectiveness of a program that is bringing justice closer to “more than three million people in the region,” and added that “we want this to be taken to most of countries in the hemisphere.”

A gallery of photos of the event are available here.

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

Reference: E-990/11