Meetings of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs
The
Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs is held in order to consider problems of an
urgent nature and of common interest to the American
states, and to serve as the Organ of Consultation.
Any
member state may request that the Meeting of
Consultation be called. The request must be
addressed to the Permanent Council of the
Organization, which decides by an absolute majority
whether a meeting should be held.
When one or more of the member states that have
ratified the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal
Assistance (Rio Treaty) request that the Meeting of
Consultation be convened in accordance with Article
13 of that treaty, the Permanent Council decides by
the vote of an absolute majority of the states that
have ratified that treaty whether the Meeting should
be held.
The
agenda and regulations of the Meeting of
Consultation are prepared by the Permanent Council
of the Organization and submitted to the member
states for consideration. When the Council serves
as Organ of Consultation, its proceedings are
governed by the provisions of the Rio Treaty.
If,
for exceptional reasons, a minister of foreign
affairs is unable to attend the meeting, he or she
shall be represented by a special delegate.
In
case of an armed attack on the territory of an
American state or within the region of security
delimited by the treaty in force, the chair of the
Permanent Council shall without delay call a meeting
of the Council to decide on the convocation of the
Meeting of Consultation, without prejudice to the
provisions of the Inter-American Treaty of
Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) with regard to
the states parties to that instrument.
The
assistant secretary general acts as secretary of the
Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs when the regulations of the Meeting so
provide.
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