AG/RES. 1679 (XXIX-O/99)

INTER-AMERICAN PROGRAM OF EDUCATION

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

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN Chapter I of the Plan of Action of the Second Summit of the Americas; the Inter-American Program of Education; resolution CIDI/RES. 50 (III-O/98), "CIDI and the Summits of the Americas," and resolution CIDI/RES. 71 (IV-O/99) "Inter-American Program of Education";

CONSIDERING:

The Declaration of Santiago, adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Second Summit of the Americas, which identified education as a key issue for the Hemisphere in the processes of development and integration, and which instructed the Ministers of Education to meet in Brasilia to promote specific joint initiatives designed to improve access to education, with fairness, quality, relevancy, and effectiveness; and

That the Inter-American Program of Education, approved by the Ministers of Education at their meeting in Brasilia in July 1998, defined lines of action and priority projects in the area of cooperation to implement the commitments set forth in the Plan of Action of Santiago; and

BEARING IN MIND the advisability of strengthening the multilateral cooperation activities of the member states, within the CIDI framework, in fulfillment of the education initiatives of the Second Summit of the Americas,

RESOLVES:

1. To adopt, as an integral part of the Strategic Plan for Partnership for Development 1997-2001, the Inter-American Program of Education, approved at the First Meeting of Ministers of Education held under the auspices of CIDI.

2. To instruct CIDI, through CEPCIDI, to study the possibility of convening in the year 2000 the Second Meeting of Ministers of Education, held under the auspices of CIDI, for the purpose of evaluating the implementation of Chapter I, "Education: The Key to Progress," of the Plan of Action of the Second Summit of the Americas, and that of the Inter-American Program of Education, and to issue recommendations on the future of hemispheric cooperation in this area.

3. To instruct CIDI, through CEPCIDI, to consult with sectoral authorities of the member states to assess the necessity and advisability of establishing an Inter-American Committee on Education, composed of education authorities at the policy-making and technical levels, which would have, among other functions, the task of preparing for the Second Meeting of Ministers.

4. To instruct the Nonpermanent Specialized Committee on Education to give priority to the multilateral projects contained in the Inter-American Program of Education that when it prepares the report referred to in Article 21 of the Statutes of the Special Multilateral Fund of CIDI (FEMCIDI), on the partnership for development activities it recommends for execution in the year 2000.

5. To instruct CIDI to promote, through CEPCIDI, execution of the Inter-American Program of Education, with support from the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) and in coordination with the Unit for Social Development and Education.