Media Center

Press Release

OAS Signs Agreement with Mexican State of Puebla to Promote Integral Development

The Organization of American States (OAS) today signed an agreement with the Mexican state of Puebla to work together to strengthen integral development in the state, in a ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the Organization in Washington, DC.

The cooperation framework agreement, which was signed by the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza and the Governor of the state of Puebla, Rafael Moreno Valle, has as its objective to establish bases for cooperation between the OAS and Puebla “for the design and development of actions, programs and projects aimed at the strengthening of public policies related to integral development.” The document identifies as priority areas governance, security and justice, public management, human rights, children and young women, indigenous peoples, migration, social development, economic development, and education, among other areas.

Secretary General Insulza said agreements like the one signed seek to bring the benefits of democracy to citizens. “The true test of democracy in our Hemisphere is no longer in its capacity to hold free elections, nor to maintain the stability of governments. It lies in showing that the democratic governments of our region are capable of resolving the problems of poverty, exclusion, environmental quality and public security that affect the people,” he said.

The OAS leader highlighted the work of the Governor of Puebla in the economic development of his state, and called Puebla “one of the states that has made the most progress in recent years.” At the end of his address, the Secretary General assured the Governor of “the greatest willingness of the Organization of American States to bring concrete results from this agreement in the terms that matter the most to you, the benefit of the inhabitants of your state.”

For his part, the Governor of Puebla and Chair of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico, Rafael Moreno Valle, emphasized that his administration has worked with the OAS “on issues as important as the organization of the first Global Congress on Early Childhood Attention,” which has been repeated annually ever since its inception. He committed to “carrying out an evaluation during the next year of this cooperation agreement” so the document “doesn’t turn into a simple list of good intentions and a photo opportunity, and so that we can determine if there were results.”

The Permanent Representative of Mexico to the OAS, Emilio Rabasa, said “the signing of this important agreement is a clear example in terms of cooperation and global responsibility, through various efforts, that Mexico is carrying out with the OAS.” Ambassador Rabasa recalled that the state of Puebla and the OAS have done projects together in education, tourism, and security, and said with today’s signing, “that cooperation is expanded to projects on culture, corporate social responsibility, competitiveness, innovation and technology,” added Permanent Representative Rabasa.

Present at the signing ceremony were the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin; the Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Sherry Tross; and the Secretary for External Relations, Alfonso Quiñonez, among others.

Before the signing of the agreement, Secretary General Insulza received Governor Moreno Valle in his office in Washington DC.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-Roll of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-061/14