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CIDI of the OAS Received Presentation from the Chair of the Managing Board of the IACD and the SEDI Annual Report

The Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS) today heard a presentation from the Chair of the Managing Board of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD) for the period 2013-2014, América Bastidas Castañeda, received the end of year report from the Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Sherry Tross, as well as reports from the Chairs of the Permanent Committees and Working Groups of the Council.

In her presentation, the IACD Chair and Advisor on Multilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development of the Dominican Republic said “the OAS overall and in particular the CIDI and the IACD as its subsidiary body are called upon to play a more dynamic role in multilateral development cooperation, leveraging its special status as a regional organization, among other factors for the following: the cooperation programs of the OAS have a “headquarters.” “It has built a brand as an institution and is a point of reference throughout the Hemisphere for its accumulated experience. For the regional cooperation programs of the OAS, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be a priority,” in contrast to other organizations, said the Chair of the IACD.

The IACD Chair, who assumed the role one month ago, proposed, among other actions: to promote the coordinating and facilitating role of CIDI for the management of the Strategic Plan for Cooperation on Development; accept the mandate to strengthen both the CIDI and the IACD; and review the plan proposed in 2012 that includes both the working plan of the Managing Board of the agency as well as the contributions to the Strategic Plan for Cooperation on Development. In addition, she urged making “strategic wagers” such as defining the areas of concentration of cooperation on integral development; analyze the proposal for modification of the Special Multilateral Fund of CIDI (FEMCIDI); establish the parameters of the strengthening of CIDI and a possible modification of the agency; and institute a policy whereby the national counterpart on issues of cooperation for development of CIDI and the IACD take responsibility for cooperation in the respective countries.

In conclusion, the Chair said "we are well disposed to assist in your mandate to help ensure that within this short period of one year we can create synergy" with the work of CIDI.

For her part, the Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Sherry Tross, presented a brief summary of the activity of her Secretariat (SEDI) during this year, noting that “it’s important to make sure that member states are aware in real time and on an ongoing basis of what is being carried out to support their needs, their requirements and the mandates that have been handed down to the General Secretariat.”

Executive Secretary Tross recalled that “policy dialogue forms the core of the OAS development approach and informs the initiatives and actions of the General Secretariat that generally revolve around capacity building and institutional strengthening and the broadening and deepening of strategic partnerships for cooperation that buttress the organization’s ability to deliver and ensure results.” Among the activities of the Secretariat this year, she highlighted the renovation of its structure, which consolidated SEDI into three Departments, from seven that existed in 2011; the development of a more substantive dialogue during CIDI meetings; meetings on the post-2015 development agenda and sustainable cities, as well as five ministerial meetings (tourism in Honduras, ports in Colombia, competitiveness in Panama, labor in Colombia, and MSMEs in Brazil); the launch of ten cooperation initiatives; improvements to the SEDI website; and the signing of new agreements which will result in more than 650 scholarships for the students of the Americas.

During the conclusion of the meeting, the Chair of CIDI and Permanent Representative of Belize to the OAS, Nestor Mendez, who ended his term at the head of the body, said his time in the position brought him to the realization that “Development is the most important mandate entrusted to this Organization; issues of development are cross-cutting. Everything that the Organization does has to do with development.” In his closing, he highlighted that, “It doesn’t matter how far we’ve come in democracy, in protecting and promoting human rights, or in security. All of that is at risk unless we put in place the measures, the activities, projects and the support to develop our countries.”

On another point of the agenda, CIDI received reports from the Chairs of the Permanent Commissions and the Working Groups presented by the Chair of the CIDI Ad Hoc Working Group to Review Mandates on Integral Development and Alternate Representative of Colombia, Yadir Salazar Mejía; the Chair of the Committee on Partnership for Development Policies and Alternate Representative of Ecuador, Marisol Nieto Cueva; the Chair of the Committee on Migration Issues and Alternate Representative of Mexico, Paola Riveros; and the Chair of the CIDI Working Group to Strengthen CIDI and its organs and Alternate Representative of El Salvador, Agustin Vasquez Gómez.

During the meeting, the representatives of Mexico, the United States, Canada, El Salvador, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Barbados, Haiti, Belize and Colombia took the floor.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-480/13