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OAS and European Union Sign Cooperation Agreement on Conflict Analysis, Early Warning and Crisis Response

The Organization of American States and the European Union today signed a cooperation agreement on issues of conflict analysis, early warning and crisis response, in a ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the Pan-American institution in Washington, DC.

The Secretary for Political Affairs of the OAS, Kevin Casas-Zamora, called the document “an important expression of the political will to deepen the relationship between the OAS and the European External Action Service on issues such as conflict analysis, early warning and crisis response.”

With the new agreement, said Secretary Casas-Zamora, “We look forward to jointly develop a training framework to strengthen our human resources, promote exchanges in fora where conceptual frameworks, tools and best practices are discussed, consolidate institutional communication channels to enhance the exchange of information and assessments, and advance our collaboration with the joint research center focusing on the early warning component of our system for political and perspective analysis.”

The Managing Director for Crisis Response and Operational Coordination of the European External Action Service, Agostino Miozzo, who signed on behalf of the EU, called his participation in the act “a great honor.” “This document represents our common will opening the way to use our respective knowledge and experience in the field of conflict analysis, situational awareness, and crisis response for an interactive cooperation based on shared information, best practices, and greater coordination,” he said.

For his part, the Secretary for External Relations of the OAS, Alfonso Quiñonez, highlighted the good relationship between the two organizations, in particular since the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2009. In terms of the agreement signed today, Ambassador Quiñonez emphasized that “institutionalizes formal and regular bilateral consultative meetings on policy issues, engagement in ongoing consultations and reciprocal sharing of information, and the exchange of experiences and best practices.”

In addition, Secretary Quiñonez called the cooperation between the OAS and the EU “multifaceted,” and said it includes political dialogue, as well as technical and financial cooperation.” Since 1989, said the OAS official, the EU has contributed $17.5 million to support programs of the Organization in the areas of human rights, electoral cooperation, de-mining, drug treatment, sustainable development, and conflict resolution, among others.

Present at the ceremony were the Head of Division for Crisis Response Planning and Operations of the European External Action Service, Jean-Marc Pisani; the Permanent Observers of Spain and France to the OAS, Jorge Hevia and Jean-Claude Nolla, respectively; the Director of the Department of Sustainable Democracy and Special Missions of the OAS, Christopher Hernández-Roy; and the Director of the Department of International Affairs of the OAS, Jorge Sanin, among others.

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-396/14