Trade and Sustainable Development

Since the first Summit of the Americas in Miami, the Heads of State and Government have recognized that sustainable development and economic prosperity are two aspects of the same objective.
The heads of State through this process have also made a commitment to assure a balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection. In response to this commitment, the General Secretariat of the OAS, through its Department of Sustainable Development (DSD), is working to enhance environmental management capacity in the context of trade liberalization and market integration in the Americas.

The OAS supports member States through different trade capacity building processes in their bilateral trade negotiations and has provided technical assistance for developing their national capacity building strategies for the Hemispheric Cooperation Program (HCP) of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). In support of the priorities established by member States, the OAS has programmed a series of activities and projects in the area of trade and environment including the initiative for "Environmental Assessments and Capacity Building for Trade Liberalization in the Americas".

Highlighted Publications And Information Sources

► Second Report on progress of the Environmental Cooperation Agenda in the CAFTA-DR countries. Report

► First Evaluation Report on CAFTA-DR Environmental Cooperation. Report

► Environmental provisions in Trade Agreements, Data Base

► OAS/DSD contributes to "Trade and Sustainable Land Management in Drylands" , ICTSD publication.

► Environmental and Capacity Building Assessment of Free Trade in Panama. More...

► Sustainable Agriculture, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & The Private Sector of the Financial Services Industry.

► Comparative Guide to the Chile-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement. A Study by the Tripartite Committee: Chapter 19, Environment. More...

► DR-CAFTA: Challenges and Opportunities for Central America. A Report by the World Bank.




Sites of Interest
What's New:

► The Department of Sustainable Development and the American University offer Trade and Environment Seminar (June 20-24, 2011). Read more..

► OAS/DSD presents Second Evaluation report on Monitoring progress of the Environmental Cooperation Agenda in the CAFTA-DR countries to Environmental Affairs Council More...

► OAS-DSD launches Second Report on progress of the Environmental Cooperation Agenda in the CAFTA-DR countries. More...

► OAS-DSD jointly with the WCL is organizing a course to strengthen environmental aspects of trade agreements Draft Agenda

► The OAS/DSD presented the efforts being conducted in order to support CAFTA-DR parties in determining the impact of the cooperation and achievement of long term environmental goals during the session “Mechanisms to monitor the implementation of RTAs: Public engagement, dispute settlement and other arrangements”.

► OAS-DSD launches First Evaluation Report on CAFTA-DR Environmental Cooperation and supports Conference on CAFTA-DR Environmental Cooperation: Partnering for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development. Report | Conference Agenda | OAS Representative in Costa Rica Speech

► DSD / OAS presented in the framework of the Pathways to Prosperity Ministerial Meeting in Costa Rica, its work and challenges to tackle climate change More... (Spanish only)

 
Calendar of Events:

► November 17, 2010.Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Hemispheric Roundtable with civil society representatives and social actors "Towards Sustainable Development in the Americas" Draft Agenda | More...