Media Center

Background


GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSONS OF THE AMERICAS TO MEET IN URUGUAY

  June 11, 2007

Government spokespersons from around the Americas will meet in Montevideo, Uruguay, on June 14 and 15 to participate in a seminar sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), the Open Society Institute and the governments of China and Uruguay.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza will open the seminar next Thursday in the Uruguayan capital and will share his views on the major challenges facing the region on democratic governance, the protection of human rights, trade and integral development, among other issues.

This Second Meeting of Spokespersons of the Member States of the OAS—the first was held in Santiago, Chile—will continue discussions begun in 2005 with presidential spokespersons of the region on the challenges they face in keeping citizens informed, as well as on the most important issues on the Inter-American agenda.

During the two-day conference, organized by the OAS Department of External Relations, discussions will be held on “The Role of the Spokesperson in the Americas,” “Spokespersons and the Media,” and on “Freedom of Expression.” Also participating as special guests at the meeting are: Andrés Oppenheimer, Miami Herald columnist; Matt Cooper, editor from the Conde Nast Portfolio Magazine; Ignacio Alvarez, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, and Claudio Grossman, Dean of American University’s Washington School of Law.



WHAT: Meeting of Government Spokesperson of the OAS Member States


WHEN: June 14-15, 2007


WHERE: Sheraton Hotel
Punta Carretas
Montevideo, Uruguay

Reference: URUG