THE SECRETARY GENERAL,

In exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Articles 109 and 113 of the Charter and Articles 4, 8 and 12 of the General Standards to Govern the Operation of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, and

CONSIDERING,

That the Plan of Action adopted at the Second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, in April 1998 ("the Santiago Plan of Action"), states, in pertinent part:

- The Heads of State and Government will continue to meet periodically to deepen cooperation and understanding among the countries of the Americas, and, to that end, will strengthen the hemispheric institutional framework.

- The Governments will bear primary responsibility for implementation of the mandates of the Summit. The mechanism established by their Foreign Ministers, called the "Summit Implementation Review Group" (SIRG), will continue functioning under their immediate authority. The National Summit Coordinators of the Foreign Ministries will guarantee rapid contact through the appropriate channels with all Government agencies involved in carrying out the mandates resulting from the Summit meetings.

- The SIRG will meet on a periodic basis (two or three times a year) to monitor the follow-up process and assess the degree to which the Summit mandates have been fulfilled. It will be chaired by the country holding the Summit and co-chaired by the country that has most recently served as host and the country that will serve as the next host ("troika"). Decisions will be adopted by consensus.

- Senior representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), will be invited to support the Governments participating in the SIRG in order to follow up on the commitments of the Summit and to achieve greater coordination and effectiveness of these institutions in performing this task. To that same end, a representative of the World Bank will be invited.

- the OAS Secretariat will be assigned responsibility for operating as a record-keeping mechanism (the institutional memory of the process) and for providing technical support to the SIRG.

- In the case of specific mandates that require the convening of sectoral ministerials, these meetings, when appropriate, will take place under the aegis of the OAS Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI). The results of these meetings will be reported to the States through the OAS Secretariat.

- Under the Guidance of the Foreign Ministers, the SIRG will make preparations for the next Summit, bearing in mind the contributions of the pertinent organs of the OAS and other international organizations involved.

That Resolution AG/RES. 1534 (XXVIII-O/98) instructs the General Secretariat "to give priority to carrying out the initiatives of the Santiago Plan of Action and to provide the Special Committee [of the Permanent Council] on Inter-American Summits Management with regular progress reports on implementation.... [as well as] to follow up on the initiatives that it has been assigned to implement in the Santiago Plan of Action."

That it is necessary to establish a central office within the General Secretariat for the coordination of the responsibilities and activities assigned to the Organization by the Plan of Action.

RESOLVES:

I. CREATION OF THE OFFICE OF SUMMIT FOLLOW-UP

1. The Office of Summit Follow-up is hereby created as a dependency of the Office of the Secretary General and as the principal entity within the General Secretariat for advising the Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General, the Executive Secretariat of CIDI and the governing bodies of the Organization, on all matters pertaining to the Summit Follow-up.

2. The primary mission of the Office of Summit Follow-up is to coordinate and otherwise assist in accomplishing the mandates assigned to the OAS in the Plan of Action and by future Summits.

II. BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE OFFICE

1. The chief of the Office, its Director, is directly responsible to the Chief of Staff of the Secretary General. The Director administers, coordinates, and has technical responsibility for the work product and personnel of the Office.

2. The Director, in accordance with the applicable norms regarding personnel, the program-budget, and related matters, is responsible for establishing an internal structure for the Office which will enable the Office to function responsively and properly in accordance with its responsibilities and mandates.

The Office of Summit Follow-up has the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Informs the Secretary General on the status of implementation of Summit mandates, and through the Secretary General or as otherwise instructed by him, similarly informs the political bodies and other organs of the Organization;

2. Supports the requests made by the countries of the troika on issues related to the meetings on the implementation of the Santiago Plan of Action that take place within the framework of the SIRG;

3. Retains, organizes, and archives (in collaboration with the Columbus Memorial Library as appropriate) all documentation pertaining to the institutional memory of the Summit process. In coordination with the Department of Management Systems and Technology, which is responsible for informatics technology within the OAS, maintains an active electronic informational database, the "Summit Net", composed of searchable public data on Summit related issues, and closed ministerial nets for the use of member State Ministers and other policymakers;

4. Serves as the technical secretariat for the Special Committee of the Permanent Council on Inter-American Summits Management;

5. Coordinates the work carried out by the OAS organs and dependencies of the General Secretariat involved in the implementation of the Santiago Plan of Action and meets regularly with their directors;

6. Coordinates those activities that incorporate different sectors of civil society in the implementation of the Plan of Action. Assists in coordinating the implementation of Summit Mandates which do not fall within the sphere of competence of other dependencies of the General Secretariat;

7. Collaborates with the Office of External Relations and the Department of Public Information, on the dissemination of information on OAS activities related to the implementation of the Plan of Action;

8. Gathers and distributes information within the OAS on pertinent issues related to the implementation of the Santiago Summit;

9. Collects and organizes information on activities carried out by other regional organizations involved in the Summit process and makes that information available to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs;

10. Supports the SIRG and member State governments during the preparatory process for subsequent Summits;

11. Advises and makes recommendations to the Secretary General for the adoption of measures to assure that the General Secretariat's Summit follow-up activities are well coordinated, efficient, and responsive to the needs and expectations of the Member States;

12. Performs such other functions as the Secretary General shall assign in relation to the Summit Follow-up process.

IV. AMENDMENTS AND REPEALS

This Executive Order supersedes all present norms, regulations and practices of the General Secretariat to the contrary.

V. EFFECT

This Executive Order shall take effect on the date on which it is signed.

Original: English
Date: July 16, 1998