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OAS Assistant Secretary General Meets with Rotary International Leader

  March 12, 2015

The Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, met last week with the General Secretary of Rotary International, John Hewko, at OAS headquarters in Washington DC, to discuss the importance of public-private partnerships in addressing the development needs of the countries of the Americas.

During the meeting, which included representatives of OAS member states and Rotary officials, Assistant Secretary General Ramdin highlighted that the OAS has deliberately and significantly expanded its relationship with global organizations including Rotary International, with the firm belief that these partnerships could facilitate more direct and strategic increases in development support to the countries of the Americas.

Ambassador Ramdin highlighted the long-standing relationship with Rotary International and the value of public-private partnerships in increasing the quality of education, as well as reaching objectives in terms of health and peace. In addition, the senior OAS official noted Rotary’s ability to bringing together business, professional and community leaders to address local needs.

For his part, the General Secretary of Rotary International, John Hewko recalled the goal of set by his organization in 1979 of eradicating polio, which was paralyzing some 350,000 children a year in more than 120 countries at the time. Since then, Rotarians have donated over US$ 1.4 billion, protecting 2.5 billion children across the world.

Earlier, General Secretary Hewko presented the Paul Harris Fellow recognition, Rotary International’s highest honor, to Assistant Secretary General Ramdin for his humanitarian work in Haiti.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-080/15