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OAS Permanent Council to Debate 2013 Budget on November 15

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) unanimously agreed to hold a special session of the General Assembly on Thursday, November 15th to approve the budget of the hemispheric organization for 2013, as mandated by the Charter of the organization. The meeting of foreign ministers will be held at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC.

During the regular meeting today, the Permanent Council decided, moreover, to further extend the deadline for completion of the assessment of the mandates of the institution, and agreed the calendar to continue the process of strengthening the Inter-American System of Human Rights. Today's agenda also included a tribute to Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci on the fifth anniversary of his death.

Also at the meeting, the Permanent Representatives agreed to extend until December 5, the deadline for submitting proposals for review and prioritization of the mandates of the organization and determined that the vacancy on the Board of External Auditors of the agency will be defined through an election to be held on November 7. Similarly, the Permanent Council heard the report of the Chairman of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) and Permanent Representative of Canada, Allan Culham, on the magazine Americas and the code of ethics of the organization.

The Permanent Council discussed the meeting schedule for the second phase of the work plan for the implementation of the resolution of the General Assembly of Cochabamba – which took place in June - on the "Follow-up on the recommendations of the Report of the Special Working Group to Reflect on the Working of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the Strengthening of the Human Rights System."

Meanwhile, Cletus Springer, Director of the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS made ​​a presentation on the work of the General Secretariat in different areas related to sustainable development, climate change and water resources management, in compliance with a request made by the Permanent Missions of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

In his speech, Director Springer said that the work of the hemispheric organization on water resources "helps to reduce water-use conflicts" and "supports peace building, especially given the fact that so many of our Member States share common surface and ground water resources."

At the same meeting, the Permanent Observer of Italy to the OAS, Ambassador Sebastiano Fulci, gave a speech commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of the Florentine navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci. "He was the first to recognize, during his four voyages - financed by the kings of Spain and Portugal and Lorenzo de Medici – that the lands he was exploring were not part of the Indies, but formed another entirely new continent.” In his presentation, the Italian diplomat highlighted the role of Italian sailors in the European exploration of the Americas.

In the segment of other business, the Chairman of the Permanent Council and Representative of Mexico, Joel Hernandez, and the representatives of Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Nicaragua, Guyana, Uruguay and Brazil congratulated the government and people of Venezuela for the presidential elections of October 7, in which President Hugo Chavez was re-elected for a term of six years.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event will available here.

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

Reference: E-374/12