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OAS AND SICA TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS IN WASHINGTON NEXT WEEK

  October 17, 2008

A meeting of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) and the Central American Integration System’s (SICA) general secretariats is scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., Monday and Tuesday next week.

Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin will lead the OAS delegation, with Secretary General Aníbal Quiñonez heading the SICA delegation for the two-day meeting whose agenda includes consideration of the status of cooperation between the hemispheric organization and the Central American entity. The delegations will also explore prospects for greater synergy between the two secretariats.

The meeting, which will be held at OAS headquarters, will review an addendum to the OAS-SICA Agreement as well. The parties are also expected to draw up a cooperation program to which various OAS units will provide input. The OAS and SICA delegations will also explore setting up a mechanism to manage the proposed cooperation program, and representatives from both organizations will make presentations on the cooperation programs of their respective organization.

Welcoming the opportunity and the possibilities that the two-day consultation entails, Assistant Secretary General Ramdin underscored how, “for the Organization of American States the various sub-regional integration mechanisms are very important because they help to unify the hemisphere.”

Besides, Ramdin added, “the OAS views the development of SICA with special interest and wants to provide support so that the various sub-regional integration systems can work together more and more closely.”

Reference: E-396/08