Media Center

Press Release

Assistant Secretary General Ramdin Opened CEAL Conference at the OAS

The Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, today opened the conference of the Latin American Business Council (CEAL, for its initials in Spanish), being held at the headquarters of the Organization, with a call on the private sector to work together with governments to address the common challenges in the region.

Ambassador Ramdin highlighted that “it is imperative that our countries make the benefits of democracy a reality through economic growth and the creation of jobs, and it is in that connection between democratic stability and democratic development, that business people are called upon to be protagonists in our societies, interacting with governments and other societal actors.”

The senior official emphasized that the OAS has stressed, in recent years, strategic alliances with the private sector, and cited as an example the Tenth Private Sector Forum, which was held last week in Asunción, Paraguay, within the framework of the 44th OAS General Assembly, and which was attended by President Cartes. In addition, he invited those present to participate in the VIII Americas Competitiveness Forum to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in October under the title “Human Imagination in Action.”

“In my opinion,” said Ambassador Ramdin, “there is a fundamental role for the private sector in the need to forge greater economic integration in the Americas, based on greater business integration.”

In his conclusion, Assistant Secretary General Ramdin said “the economic well-being and stability of the countries of the Americas cannot be the exclusive responsibility of the states. The new challenges that our countries face require new solutions and alliances.” Finally, he highlighted that “we must be willing to collaborate in an environment of transparency that facilitates mutual respect if we truly want to make a difference.”

The President of the U.S. Chapter of CEAL, Roberto Zamora, recalled his participation in November at the OAS in a meeting of the Permanent Council on public-private alliances in the Americas, and said that “to move our countries to another level, the public and private sectors must work together, creating a public-private alliance that leads to greater job creation, and an atmosphere of trust for national and foreign investment.”

For his part, Samuel Urrutia, President of CEAL International, said “the proposal of regional hemispheric integration is possible when businesspeople and the state, together, build alliances and take advantage of the productive chains, where each one of our countries can play a role based on its competitive advantage and therefore become a more powerful region.” In terms of the role of CEAL, Urrutia emphasized that “it is our responsibility to be a tool for regional integration,” and urged on the participants to hold useful deliberations during the event.

CEAL is an organization that includes the most important private entrepreneurs in Latin America, created 24 years ago to promote its members participation in the current exchange and cooperation tendencies, in every aspect in which private companies can contribute to the economic progress of their countries. The meeting of CEAL will be held until tomorrow, Friday June 13 in Washington, DC.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-Roll of the event will be available here.

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

Reference: E-247/14