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Press Release

OAS AND PADF SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR PROJECT
TO BENEFIT RESIDENTS OF COLOMBIA'S BORDER REGION

The Organization of American States (OAS) has signed an agreement with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), which will implement a program to benefit vulnerable populations of parts of Colombia’s border regions. The Colombian government is to contribute one million dollars towards implementation.

During a ceremony at OAS headquarters, OAS Secretary General (José Miguel Insulza) and PADF Chairman Ambassador Alexander F. Watson signed the memorandum of understanding for implementation of the “Program for Assistance to Vulnerable Communities in Border Regions of the Departments of Putumayo and Nariño of the Republic of Colombia.”

The Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Araújo, participated as witness of honor, with Colombia’s Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs, Adriana Mejía, also in attendance. Others on hand included the OAS Permanent Council Chairman, Ambassador Cornelius Smith of The Bahamas; OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin; and PADF Executive Director John Sanbrailo.

“We hope this effort would serve as an example of inter-American cooperation to encourage more support for vulnerable populations in border regions,” Ambassador Watson remarked, thanking the Colombian government for its confidence in entrusting the Foundation with implementing this important program for communities on the Colombia-Ecuador border. The PADF has been involved in delivering assistance to displaced and vulnerable populations in Colombia for some eight years, he added.

Watson further explained that the current one-year program “seeks to identify specific short-term actions to settle beneficiaries and incorporate them into the productive life of the border region, so as to lay the foundation for sustainable development.” Some 1,100 families stand to benefit from job-creation, vocational training and social service projects in keeping with priorities the Colombian government identified in its Border Plan.

The Colombian Foreign Minister, meanwhile, noted that the PADF program will spur “creation of productive alternatives,” while facilitating progress on income-generating initiatives and raise the standard of living for communities on the Colombian border. Araújo said his government remains fully committed to the comprehensive delivery of services to vulnerable communities, with priority focused on Afro Colombians, Indigenous peoples, women heading households and internally displaced persons, among others.

Thanking the OAS and the PADF, Araújo commended the speed in implementing this project, saying it “reflects the spirit of integration, cooperation and mutual support that brings us all together.”

Secretary General Insulza praised Minister Araújo for leading and developing this important initiative, and thanked him for inviting the OAS and its affiliate, the PADF, to implement the program which he said reflects confidence in the inter-American system. Insulza said the $1 million that the government of Colombia is to contribute to the OAS through the PADF will improve the lives of hundreds of needy Colombians.

Reference: E-033/08