AG/RES. 1659 (XXIX-O/99)

SUPPORT FOR AND FOLLOW-UP TO THE SUMMITS OF THE AMERICAS INITIATIVES

(Resolution adopted at the first plenary session, held on June 7, 1999)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the report of the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management to the foreign ministers, presented in compliance with resolution AG/RES. 1534 (XXVIII-O/98) (AG/doc.3821/99);

RECALLING the Summit of the Americas, in Miami; the Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; the Second Summit of the Americas, in Santiago, Chile; and resolution AG/RES. 1534 (XXVIII-O/98), "Support for and Follow-up to the Summits of the Americas Initiatives;"

CONSIDERING:

That, in resolution AG/RES. 1349 (XXV-O/95), the General Assembly set up a Special Committee of the Permanent Council on Inter-American Summits Management, open to all member states, to ensure effective, timely, and appropriate follow-up to the activities assigned to the Organization by the Summit of the Americas and to coordinate, if so decided, OAS preparation, participation, and follow-up with regard to future summits involving all member states in whose implementation and follow-up the OAS might be called upon to participate;

That, in resolutions AG/RES. 1377 (XXVI-O/96) and AG/RES. 1448 (XXVII-O/97), the General Assembly reaffirmed the mandate of the Special Committee and instructed it to submit a written progress report to the foreign ministers during the General Assembly on the implementation of those resolutions;

That the Second Summit of the Americas was held in Santiago, Chile, on April 18 and 19, 1998, and that the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere signed the Declaration of Santiago and the Plan of Action;

That the Santiago Plan of Action establishes that "the Governments will bear primary responsibility for implementation of the mandates of the Summit," and that "in accordance with Summit decisions, international organizations will have responsibilities in implementing this process and, as appropriate, according to Summit mandates, support will be provided by private sector organizations and civil society";

That, also in the Santiago Plan of Action, the Heads of State and Government assigned various mandates to the OAS and instructed the OAS General Secretariat to act as a record-keeping mechanism (institutional memory of the process) and provide technical support to the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG); and

RECOGNIZING the importance of coordinated and efficient follow-up to the Santiago Plan of Action of the Second Summit of the Americas so as to ensure timely and effective implementation of the initiatives entrusted to the OAS and other organs, agencies, and entities of the inter-American system by the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere,

RESOLVES:

1. To thank the Permanent Council for the report of its Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and to express its satisfaction with the important work carried out by that Special Committee in implementing resolution AG/RES. 1349 (XXV-O/95) and other resolutions on the subject.

2. To thank also the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization for the special support they provide in implementing the initiatives of the Plan of Action of the Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, of the Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development, held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and of the Second Summit of the Americas, held in Santiago; and to urge them to continue to implement the Plan of Action of Miami, the Plan of Action of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and the Plan of Action of Santiago, in accordance with the mandates of the Second Summit of the Americas.

3. To reaffirm the mandate assigned to the Permanent Council to coordinate, through its Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management, the activities assigned to the OAS by the Summit of the Americas, held in Miami in 1994, and by the Second Summit of the Americas, held in Santiago in 1998.

4. To instruct the organs, agencies, and entities of the inter-American system to give top priority to carrying out the initiatives assigned to them by the General Assembly pursuant to the mandates of the Summits of the Americas and to provide regular progress reports on their implementation to the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management.

5. To instruct the General Secretariat, through its Office of Summit Follow-up, to receive and compile all the information on the initiatives assigned to the OAS by the Summits process and to provide this information, on a regular basis, to the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management.

6. To instruct the General Secretariat to continue to provide technical support, through its Office of Summit Follow-up, to the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and to the Summit Implementation Review Group.

7. To recognize the important progress made by the General Secretariat, through its Office of Summit Follow-up, in preserving and disseminating the institutional memory of the process through the Summit of the Americas Information System.

8. To instruct the Permanent Council to submit a written progress report on the implementation of this resolution to the foreign ministers at the next regular session of the General Assembly.