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SUMMIT IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW GROUP PREPARES FOR SPECIAL SUMMIT

The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) is meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) this week to work on a draft declaration for the Special Summit of the Americas, to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, on January 12 and 13.

The XXXIII Meeting, which brings together the 34 democratically elected governments of the Hemisphere, was convened by the Mexican Government, as host country, to complete preparations for the Special Summit.

The Special Summit of Heads of State and Government will address the topics of economic growth with equity, social development, and democratic governance will bring into the Summit process the 14 newly leaders of the Hemisphere elected since the Third Summit of the Americas in April 2001.

The inaugural session today was chaired by Miguel Hakim, President of the Special Summit of the Americas and Mexico’s Assistant Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean. Statements were made by the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Ambassador Luigi Einaudi; Ambassador Rodolfo Gil, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the OAS and President of the Fourth Summit; and Dr. Irene Klinger, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat for the Summit Process.

On behalf of his Government, Miguel Hakim welcomed the delegates from the OAS member states and the civil society representatives who submitted recommendations for the declaration. He also established the objectives for the four-day meeting.

For his part, Ambassador Einaudi said that "a frank and candid dialogue between the leaders on the most important issues currently confronting the peoples of the Americas is the objective so that the leaders can inject the process with political will."

Ambassador Gil, representing Argentina as the host country for the Fourth Summit of the Americas to be held in 2005, said that there was great concern among leaders regarding the caliber of democracies, the increase in povery, and the prevailing uncertainty in the Latin American population.


Presentations on the outcome of the Special Conference on Security, the Thirteenth Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor and the Second Ministerial-level Meeting on Agriculture and Rural Life followed the opening session, and provided a background for preparation of the Special Summit of the Americas.

Dr. Irene Klinger said that the Summit process was of concern not only to governments but also to all of society, and thanked the civil society organizations for their interest in contributing to that process.

Reports were received from the Argentine, Gustavo Gamallo, from the Inter- American Democratic Network, and from the Canadian, Donald Mackay, from the Canadian Foundation of the Americas, concerning the results and recommendations of the forum “Civil Society in the Process of Hemispheric Intergraion in the Framework of the Special Summit of the Americas," which was held in Mexico City on November 24 and 25.

At the close of the morning session, Miguel Hakim acknolweged the importance of future work for the preparation of the declaration and stressed the fundamental role of the work of ministerial-level meetings and the recommendations of civil society organizations in achieving the objectives of the Summit: working for the interests of all peoples of the Americas.

Reference: E-240/03