Media Center

Press Release

OAS Leads Efforts to Improve Cooperation Effectiveness in the Caribbean

The first sub-regional workshop on cooperation effectiveness, co-hosted by the Organization of American States (OAS), ended this week in Bridgetown, Barbados. It was an effort by policy makers and practitioners from the Caribbean to improve cooperation effectiveness and promote a more active and better coordinated regional role in international cooperation forums.

“The OAS has an unparallel opportunity to act as a broker […] on cooperation effectiveness,” said Carson Browne, Permanent Secretary, Barbados Ministry of Economic Affairs. “In this regard the OAS must seek, in its mandates, to intensify its efforts to strengthening institutions within the region.”

Zakaria El Goumiri of the OAS indicated that the Organization is acting as the regional platform to facilitate dialogue and strengthen regional voices on cooperation effectiveness as we move forward to the Fourth High Level Forum (HLF4) on aid effectiveness, to take place in Busan, South Korea, in 2011. Over the next months, the OAS intends to anchor the regional process in Latin America and the Caribbean through a series of sub-regional workshops beginning with Barbados, to be followed by Guatemala and Ecuador.

The importance of consolidating a participatory global agenda for cooperation effectiveness was highlighted by Eduardo Gonzalez, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (DAC/OECD). This process began in Monterrey in 2002 and will conclude with the Forum in Korea in 2011. He encouraged countries to participate in the 2011 Paris Monitoring Survey and to get involved in other existing initiatives.

Keith Gordon of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) thereafter outlined the Caribbean perspective on aid effectiveness, and emphasized its importance for the region in terms of ownership, reliable country systems, harmonization of donor actions, managing for results, accountability of both donors and partners, as well as the implementation of mutual donor/partner assessments of progress. “A key priority for the region would be to examine each Member State’s development plans and to check similarities and concerns to drive cooperation forward,” he said.

Subsequently, Enrique Maruri of the technical secretariat of the South-South Task Team (TT-SSC) concluded the first segment by encouraging countries to participate in sharing case stories on South-South Cooperation (SSC) and to participate in the TT-SSC’s activities.

Bertram Johnson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Barbados closed the event by presenting the final consensus of the Caribbean technical cooperation authorities that addressed critical issues for the region. The authorities agreed that development cooperation is key and complementary to South-South Cooperation.

Representatives from 13 OAS Member States as well as representatives from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan-American Foundation for Development (PADF), the Government of Barbados and local practitioners contributed to enriching the discussion with their perspectives. The workshop was co-hosted by the OAS, its Inter-American Cooperation Network (CooperaNet) and the Government of Barbados, with the support of the TT-SSC.

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

Reference: E-343/10