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OAS ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL: “A NEW CHAPTER HAS OPENED IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM”

During the conference: ‘President Obama: Foreign Policy in the Americas, Finance, Energy, Climate Change. Follow-Up: Summit of the Americas’, the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Albert Ramdin, presented an overview of the Fifth Summit of the Americas. He explained the relevance of the event, and presented his perspectives on what needs to be done to continue improving the Summit of the Americas Process and implementation of its mandates.

The event, organized by the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), discussed the outcomes of the Summit, focusing on finance, energy, and climate change as the key issues impacting the Americas today. Other speakers included Peter Hakim, President of the Inter-American Dialogue and Leandro Alves, Head of the Energy Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Among the reasons that made the Summit such a relevant event, Ramdin highlighted the political and economic landscape in the Americas. On one side, he referred to the financial crisis that is affecting most of the American nations, and on the other hand, he pointed out that “this was the first opportunity for many leaders to meet each other, face to face and to discuss emerging social and political issues”.

“One of the reasons why the Fifth Summit was such an important event was the fact that this was the first to be held in the Caribbean, in Trinidad and Tobago. This was an opportunity for small countries to put their stamp on the inter-American agenda. It also demonstrated the commitment of the Caribbean countries to the Western Hemisphere, and created a momentum of reaffirmation that the Caribbean nations are an active part of this Hemisphere” he said.

Talking about the results of the meeting, the Assistant Secretary General said that “in Trinidad and Tobago, the atmosphere was of goodwill among the leaders, and they demonstrated their willingness to dialogue, to make a commitment, to listen to each other. The result of this environment is that a new chapter has opened in the inter-American system.”

Ambassador Ramdin took the opportunity to stress the importance of having the support of the various institutions in the implementation and execution of the Summit mandates. He referred to the role of the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) to work together with Governments in translating mandates into concrete actions, and the need to incorporate those commitments in the member state’s national planning. The JSWG is made up of twelve inter-American, regional and financial institutions that participate and support the Summit of the Americas Process.

He concluded his speech by affirming that “this new political environment in the Americas needs to be sustained” and proposing a new framework in which the summit process is institutionalized in the inter-American system with the support of the OAS.

Reference: E-145/09