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INSULZA STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF IMPLEMENTING SUMMIT MANDATES

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today underscored the importance of moving ahead with the implementation of mandates from the Fourth Summit of the Americas to face the challenges of combating poverty, creating employment and strengthening governance in the region.

The Summit of Heads of State and Government held last November in Mar del Plata, Argentina, adopted “significant agreements” on these issues, despite differences that arose on the issue of how to approach economic integration in the hemisphere, Insulza said. He spoke at the opening of a meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), at OAS headquarters in Washington.

Secretary General Insulza noted that some 200 million people in the hemisphere remain in poverty and that Latin America and the Caribbean need to create five million jobs a year just to maintain the current employment rates. “We therefore have immense challenges, and it is very important that we emphasize the agreements we have reached so that we can move from there to set in motion the plan of action” adopted in Mar del Plata, he said.

This is the first SIRG meeting to take place since the Mar del Plata Summit, which focused on the theme of “Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.” SIRG President Roberto García Moritán, Secretary General of Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, emphasized that the 34 states that participate in this process share basic values that have made it possible to make progress on key issues for the region.

“I think we can be proud that the agreements that arise from the Declaration of Mar del Plata, and the operational guidelines present in its Plan of Action, are intended to improve the quality of our democracies and the well-being of our citizens,” García Moritán said.

During today’s meeting, national Summit coordinators and representatives of international bodies are studying a mechanism that would allow for the effective follow-up and monitoring of the implementation of Summit mandates.

Insulza argued for the Summits to be more systematized, so that the region’s leaders meet on a regular basis, within a particular timeframe – perhaps every two or three years – to review the major problems within the inter-American system and set medium-term policies for its institutions. “The Summits are the major event of our hemisphere, and I think the moment has come to institutionalize the Summit process,” the Secretary General said.

Meanwhile, the National Summit Coordinator of Trinidad and Tobago, Laura West, reiterated her government’s offer to hold the Fifth Summit of the Americas in that Caribbean island country.

The OAS General Secretariat supports the member states in Summit follow-up and planning, and provides technical and logistical support and coordination to this process and to the SIRG, through the Summits of the Americas Department.

Reference: E-093/06