OEA/Ser.P
AG/DEC. 24 (XXX-O/00)
6 June 2000
Original: Spanish 

DECLARATION OF WINDSOR:
STRENGTHENING THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

(Declaration Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 6, 2000)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING that the heads of state and government of the Americas, at the 1998 Summit of the Americas, in Santiago, Chile, recognized the important and positive role played by hemispheric institutions, especially the Organization of American States (OAS), and instructed their ministers to examine ways to strengthen and modernize those institutions;

BEARING IN MIND the difficult financial situation currently facing the Organization;

HAVING SEEN the report of the Special Joint Working Group on the Strengthening and Modernization of the OAS and the reports of the General Secretariat on the financial situation of the Organization; and

HAVING HEARD the ideas put forward by the foreign ministers and heads of delegation on the strengthening of the Organization, its financial situation, and priorities for its working agenda,

REITERATES the importance of providing the Organization with the funds it needs to fulfill its essential function as a forum for political dialogue and cooperation in the Hemisphere;

INSTRUCTS the Secretary General to present to member states, as promptly as possible, an action plan to resolve the financial crisis now facing the Organization and to give it a budgetary structure that will prevent such a situation from recurring and will enable the Organization to carry out its mandates; and

URGES member states in arrears to work out with the General Secretariat a plan for bringing their payments up to date as soon as possible.