The XIII Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour (IACML) of the Organization of American States was held in the city of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, on September 24-26, 2003. Delegates met to review and discuss the advancements made since the XII Conference held in Ottawa, Canada in 2001 and to approve a Declaration and Plan of Action to guide the Inter-American Labour System over the next two years.

In advance of the XIII IACML a Preparatory Technical meeting was held July 23-24, 2003 in Brasilia, Brazil. (Final Report ) At this meeting delegates built consensus on the draft Declaration and Plan of Action of Salvador, as well as reviewed a proposal for a feasibility study on an Inter-American Mechanism for Professional Labour Administration and a resolution on the use of Excess Resources from the OAS Subfund for Labour.

Additionally, the Unit for Social Development and Education of the OAS in its capacity as Technical Secretariat of the IACML launched a Virtual Forum (http://www.oas.org/udse/cimt) in early July 2003 to support the development of the draft Declaration and Plan of Action of Salvador and to facilitate greater input by the Member States and IACML social partners through the use of the Internet.