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RIAC/OAS Principles on Competitiveness to Be Debated at Summit of the Americas 2012

The 10 principles on competitiveness contained in the document “Consensus of Santo Domingo” of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network (RIAC), whose Technical Secretariat is the Organization of American States (OAS), will be submitted in 2012 to the Presidents and Heads of States at the VI Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, to be assumed as pillars of their countries’ public policies.

This was agreed today by the Ministers of the Economy, Finance, Industry and Commerce of the continent, convened by the OAS in Santo Domingo in the framework of the V Americas Competitiveness Forum and the Annual Meeting of the RIAC, with the goal of raising to the highest political levels the subject of competitiveness and its links to education, sustainable development, and science and technology, among others.

“We emphasize the importance of the ten principles which can guide our actions at the regional, national and sub-national levels according to the interest, context and competitiveness agenda of each country, to advance toward a more competitive and prosperous region,” said the Ministers in a joint statement published today.

The principles on competitiveness contained in the “Consensus of Santo Domingo” emphasize, among other things: to promote high-quality education; strengthen the establishment of effective institutions responsible for promoting competitiveness; improve transparency in government administration; prioritize development of human capital; drive the development of a modern and efficient infrastructure; position innovation as a determining factor for competitiveness; and improve access to capital for economic stakeholders.

The document “Consensus of Santo Domingo” was approved on October 5, 2011, in the framework of the Annual Meeting of the RIAC held in the Dominican capital. At the same gathering, Colombia assumed the Presidency pro tempore of this regional mechanism and the responsibility of hosting the VI Americas Competitiveness Forum and the next Annual Meeting of the RIAC, to be held in Cali in 2012.

For his part, the interim OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Jorge Saggiante, on behalf of Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, reaffirmed that improving competitiveness in the region is “an essential aspect” of the work of the Organization, which has the goal of “linking the issue directly with all the political entities we are connected to and with all the political processes and dialogue that take place in the Hemisphere and in the framework of our organization,” he concluded.

The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia and President pro tempore of the RIAC 2011-2012, Sergio Díaz-Granados, said his country’s Government is committed to “raise the level of commitment to a maximum in order to expand public-private participation, to involve at the highest level different entities that are part of competitiveness, not only of national governments but of the private sector and academia, and to continue along this line traced here these days.” “We hope that next year, on those ten principles that were built and agreed upon in Santo Domingo, we will exchange the best experiences,” he added.

Representatives from the following countries took the floor during the ministerial meeting: United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Barbados, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Dominican Republic.

The complete text of the joint statement is available here.

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

Reference: E-886/11