CIDI of the OAS Debates Development Agenda

Washington, April 15- The Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS) held a general debate on the development agenda of the Organization, in a regular meeting in Washington, DC.

Upon beginning the meeting, the Chair of CIDI and Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the OAS, Diego Pary, said “it is important to recognize the interest expressed by the member states in the pillar of integral development in our Organization,” and that there is also a need to recognize that “we still have not achieved the impetus we had hoped for” in this respect.

The CIDI Chair said the member states “are forced to make decisions, for which we need a previous process of reflection” and that “the final result should be the construction of the development agenda of the Organization of American States, in which we identify in an explicit way the objectives, priorities and results in the short, medium and long term”.

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, highlighted that the debate over a development agenda “is today more of a priority than ever.” He emphasized the importance of making clear the focal points of the issue, in terms of three criteria: “They must be hemispheric issues, we must choose relevant issues, and we must make a difference. No matter how difficult it may be, we have to rid ourselves of issues on which our presence or absence does not make a great difference”.

Recalling that the theme of the next General Assembly of the Organization, which will be held from June 3 to 5 in Asunción, Paraguay, is “Development with Social Inclusion,” the Secretary General expressed his hope that the Plan of Action for the Social Charter of the Americas will be approved during the meeting. The OAS leader called the decision of the host country to focus the Assembly on this issue “very opportune, as long as we have something to say, something to propose”.

In addition, Secretary General Insulza recalled that this year “in the United Nations the post 2015 development agenda is being debated intensely.” To face the challenges of development in this period, said the Secretary General, “this Organization has important resources,” and added that “the problem is that at some point we must sit down to decide which instruments we will use and how to order them in a viable agenda”.

The OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development (SEDI), Sherry Tross, noted in her address that development has been chosen by the government of Paraguay as the theme of the next General Assembly, confirming that "this is a very critical issue for our region”.

Executive Secretary Tross said that despite the progress made during the last decade, in which 61 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean emerged from poverty, the Hemisphere remains the most unequal region in the world. "From a multidimensional approach to development, significant advances are not only related to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also to access and quality of education, housing, water, sanitation, energy, income, social protection and environment, among other things," she added.

The Executive Secretary for Integral Development recalled that during the last 18 months SEDI has been restructured into three areas: Economic and Social Development; Human Development, Education and Employment; and Sustainable Development, in order to "optimize functional synergies and strengthen internal capabilities in order to meet the needs of member states." Tross added that the task of the new departments of SEDI is to "deliver real results in political dialogue, development cooperation and capacity building”.

For his part, the Permanent Representative of Mexico and Chair of the Working Group on Strategic Vision of the OAS, Emilio Rabasa, gave an account of the progress made by the group he chairs, and announced it will present a draft resolution relating to the strategic objectives of the hemispheric institution to be considered by the Foreign Ministers of the Americas at the 44th General Assembly of Paraguay.

Ambassador Rabasa said the Working Group agreed that the strategic orientation of this pillar should aim to have member states achieve their goals of inclusive and sustainable integral social and economic development. "This is done through measures aimed at the widespread support for human resource development and the strengthening of national capacities, as well as the strengthening the Inter-American system, including the tripartite mechanisms IDB-ECLAC-OAS to promote strategic partnerships to identify synergies and resource mobilization for South-South, North-South, horizontal and triangular development," he added.

At the beginning of the meeting, the CIDI Chair expressed his condolences and that of the body he presides over to the victims of the fire in the Chilean city of Valparaiso.