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Authorities on Social Development Agree on Slogan for Ministerial Meeting in Cali

Prominent national authorities from the Americas chose the slogan for the Second Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Social Development, to be held in the Colombian city of Cali on July 8 and 9, 2010, at the end of two days of meetings at the Organization of American States (OAS) in the framework of the Inter-American Committee on Social Development (known by its Spanish acronym, CIDES).

The CIDES is the entity charged with preparing and following up on this ministerial forum. After meeting on April 6 and 7, it agreed to:

1. Approve the slogan of the Second Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Social Development: “Strengthening and Supporting Social Protection Systems.”

2. Request Member States interested in occupying the Chairmanship and I and II Vice Chairmanships of the CIDES to express interest in writing and send it to the Secretariat before April 30, 2010. The Secretariat will be able to distribute the corresponding requests to members of the CIDES as soon as it is in receipt of them. Candidacies will be considered during the last preparatory session before the II Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Social Development, on July 7, when the new authorities of the CIDES for the 2010-2012 period will be officially announced.

3. Request the National Planning Department of Colombia that during the preparatory process of the ministerial meeting it consider, as Chairman of the CIDES and host of the II Ministerial Meeting, comments made on the topics proposed for the meeting.

4. Request CIDES authorities to prepare, with the support of the Secretariat, a draft agenda and a working draft of the Cali Communiqué based on the results of the Committee’s work these two days. According to regulations and terms of the CIDES and the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), the resulting documents will be distributed to Member States for their comments and ultimate approval.

5. To conduct a preparatory meeting July 7, 2010, in Cali, Colombia, to do a final review of the schedule and documents to be approved by the Ministers and High Authorities on Social Development.

Member states present at the meeting renewed their commitment to the Inter-American Network of Social Protection, an initiative supported by the Heads of State and Government who met in the framework of the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Francisco Pilotti, Director of the Department of Social Development and Employment of the OAS, highlighted that “the Network is meant to become the principal tool of cooperation in the ministers of social development forum, and is currently supported at the highest political level, a fact that will facilitate its consolidation in 2010.”

Please visit the Web page of the Inter-American Committee on Social Development here.

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

Reference: E-113/10