AG/RES. 1599 (XXVIII-O/98)

PARLIAMENTARY NETWORK OF THE AMERICAS

(Resolution adopted at the fifth plenary session, held on June 3, 1998)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the Declaration of the Second Summit of democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the countries of the Americas, meeting in Santiago, Chile, which reaffirms their willingness to deepen dialogue and inter-American cooperation within the spirit of friendship and solidarity with which the nations of the Americas are imbued, while recognizing the importance of the hemispheric institutions as well as the positive role which they play in this process, particularly the Organization of American States; and

CONSIDERING:

That the Heads of State and Government have instructed their ministers to examine the means at their disposal to reinforce and modernize inter-American cooperation and dialogue;

That the Plan of Action of the Second Summit of the Americas encourages governments to promote increased participation by civil society in public affairs;

That the same Plan of Action entrusts the OAS with promoting appropriate programs to that effect;

That, in representative democracies, parliaments constitute a key link between the states and the populations they represent;

That parliamentarians and their institutions can provide valuable support to existing inter-American initiatives for the promotion of the political, economic, social, and cultural interests of the populations they represent;

That a network of parliamentary representatives of member states of the inter-American system could facilitate the sharing of their parliamentary experiences related to the process of regional integration at all levels; and

That, in the process of regional integration at all levels, the OAS could encourage the exchange of experience and information and the broadening of dialogue within the parliamentary sector,

RESOLVES:

1. To instruct the General Secretariat that, by building on existing mechanisms within the OAS, it facilitate parliamentary dialogue, solely through the use of a specific voluntary fund to support its activities, having no impact on the OAS Regular Fund.

2. To express its conviction that the pursuit of a dialogue by a hemispheric network of legislative leaders would be facilitated by adequate resources.

3. To encourage parliamentarians of the Americas to support the process of regional integration at all levels for the improvement of political, economic, social, and cultural conditions of the populations they represent.

4. To instruct the General Secretariat to report to the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth regular session on progress made in facilitating parliamentary dialogue, as well as on progress made in securing resources for the specific voluntary fund.