PANAMA CITY, Panama—The President of the 37th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Panamanian First Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro, along with OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza led a private dialogue among the Ministers of Foreign Affairs attending the regional organization’s annual meeting.

The Heads of Delegation talked about key issues on the hemispheric agenda, meeting behind closed doors to allow for greater communication. During the meeting, the foreign ministers discussed, among other matters, the mechanisms their respective countries have in place to tackle the issue of energy and sustainable development, the central theme of this year’s OAS General Assembly. The meeting took place at the Visitors Center at the Panama Canal’s Miraflores Locks.

Later in the afternoon, the ministers returned to the ATLAPA Convention Center, where they resumed their public debate. The Heads of Delegation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Bolivia, Haiti, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominica, Jamaica and Barbados took the floor in this second plenary session.

The ministers summed up the energy picture in each country and agreed on the need to promote a new energy paradigm in the region, one that encompasses the principles of rationality, sustainability and respect for the environment, in order to guarantee clean and renewable sources of energy.

The delegations of Guatemala and Honduras underscored, as well, that freedom of expression and of the press is an essential element of the democratic process which must be sustained and respected at all times in accordance with the principles established in the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Reference: GA-19-07