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OAS SECRETARY GENERAL: TRADE AND INVESTMENT
BENEFIT DEMOCRACY IN THE AMERICAS

Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said today that the promotion of trade and investment is critical not only to create jobs and increase prosperity, but also to strengthen democracy in the Americas.
“People have to see that democracy produces more than free elections,” that it also leads to “tangible progress in their lives,” Insulza told participants at a conference in Washington, D.C. Strong hemispheric relations depend on a common base of democracy and human rights, but also on “growth, reduction of poverty, job creation and equitable distribution of opportunity for social progress,” he said.
Democracy continues to be vulnerable in the region because vast segments of the population feel they have not reaped any benefit from democracy in the form of job creation and poverty reduction, the Secretary General said, in remarks at the opening of the 10th anniversary conference of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF). The two-day event is a joint initiative of the OAS, CAF and Inter-American Dialogue, and is being held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
CAF President Enrique García and Inter-American Dialogue President Peter Hakim also gave opening remarks, while special presentations were made by members of the U.S. House of Representatives Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
Insulza underscored the importance of maintaining strong, stable trading relationships with the United States, saying this would help attract investment that the countries of the region need in order to continue on the path to growth. “More growth and prosperity will mean more workers in jobs in their own countries. It will also mean more markets for products from the United States,” he said.
Insulza said the cooperation of political and economic partners of the countries of the Americas is indispensable in a politically and economically interdependent world. Citing the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which grants Andean countries preferential trade access to the United States market, Insulza pointed to a phenomenal growth in trade and exports for the beneficiary countries. Between 2002 and 2005, Colombia’s non-traditional exports to the U.S. market increased ten-fold, Peru’s almost six-fold, Ecuador’s twenty-fold, and Bolivia’s four-fold, bringing necessary market diversification to these countries.
The Secretary General also described this development as a boost to a much-needed diversification of the beneficiary countries’ economies. He said that the ATPDEA, which expires next December, deserves to be extended “to prevent erosion of the gains made under an agreement that has been successful.” Furthermore, according to Insulza, extending the agreement would be doing “the right thing” – “to demonstrate solidarity with countries that have made good use of a form of preferences that was given to them.”

The ATPDEA is “a tangible expression by the United States of its commitment to promote prosperity, stability and democracy in beneficiary countries—Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru,” Insulza said, adding that it has produced results in the eradication of illegal drug activity.
According to research done for the conference by the OAS Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), the Andean region continues to be considered particularly important in the fight against illicit drugs because it produces nearly all of the world’s cocaine. In a document entitled “The Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act: Its impact on Prosperity, Security and Democracy,” SEDI concludes, “Progress made in curtailing production and drug trafficking will need to be sustained in order to achieve a viable solution to a problem that poses a threat to the security interests” of the international community.
As the conference continues, Secretary General Insulza will also moderate Friday’s session focusing on “Scenarios for Regional Cooperation and Conflict.” The conference is also considering such other topics as Latin America’s Year of Elections: Results and Consequences; Latin America’s Economic Prospects; U.S. Policy towards Latin America; Energy (Oil Markets and Actors); and Economic Response to Social Change.

Reference: E-182/06