WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said Thursday, July 21 that the Fifth Summit of the Americas—to be held next April in Trinidad and Tobago—will serve as a “strategic guide” that will orient the actions of the OAS and other multilateral organizations for years to come.
The Secretary General spoke at a meeting at which the government of Trinidad and Tobago presented the draft “Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain,” which will serve as the basis of negotiations in the months leading up to the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
The document not only lays out policies and priorities, but also specifies what institutions are responsible for producing results and how they will go about doing so, the Secretary General told a meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) – the political body responsible for follow-up on Summit mandates.
In discussing the text, he said, “it is very important to keep for us in mind the central concept that the Declaration of Port of Spain should first be a commitment that our governments assume and, second, a clear mandate that the leaders will give the international organizations for the tasks they should carry out. I think this is a document that moves forward substantively in this area.”
The Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will take place on April 17-19, 2009, will focus on the theme “Securing our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability.”
In presenting the draft, Trinidad and Tobago’s National Coordinator for the Summit and Special Envoy for the Americas, Ambassador Luis Alberto Rodriguez, called the document a “strategy of cooperation” and said the emphasis was on taking a “pragmatic” approach.
“As a result, the focus is limited to issues that resonate with the majority of our countries and that can be addressed, to a significant degree, by multilateral action,” he said.
“This document,” he said, “is essentially a strategy of cooperation that is intimately focused on meeting the needs and fulfilling the aspirations of our people through commitments and actions geared at achieving several specific targets within set timeframes.”
The document includes six main sections. The first, on Human Prosperity, seeks to reinforce existing efforts—including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals—to reduce poverty and address crucial challenges such as food security, health care and education.
Other sections define priorities and goals in Energy Security, Environmental Sustainability, Public Security and Democratic Governance. A final section looks at strengthening the Summit of the Americas process.
The document proposes holding a Summit of the Americas every three years, “to give our leaders the opportunity to more frequently assess the strategic direction they have chosen and to strengthen their oversight of the process,” as Rodriguez explained. He noted that many of the 34 Heads of State and Government who will meet in Port of Spain will be new to the process, as they will have taken office since the Fourth Summit, held in November 2005 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Representatives of 22 countries from the Americas spoke at the meeting, pledging their support and participation in the coming months to ensure that the Fifth Summit is a success. Negotiations on the document begin in Barbados on September 18 and 19.
Representatives of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) praised the work of the National Secretariat in shaping an action-oriented agenda for the Fifth Summit.
Ambassador Pedro Oyarce of Chile commended the document for its “integrated, strategic and logical” approach to critical issues. “This Summit will surely have the stamp of the Caribbean,” he said.
Ambassador Denis Antoine of Grenada emphasized the need to follow through with Summit mandates so that people see tangible benefits. Noting the word “commitment” in the title of the declaration, he said the meeting in Port of Spain should be “the promise-keeper’s Summit.”
