COOPERATION IN ACTION

OAS-SEDI: Forging New Partnerships for Development

July 2015, Washington DC
The Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee on Ports (CIP) continues to expand its partnerships. For the next three months (July-September 2015), the S/CIP will welcome an expert from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM - Tec de Monterrey) in Mexico at its headquarters in Washington DC. In agreement with the institution, the Director of the Department of Law and International Relations of the Guadalajara Campus, Dr. Pedro Elizalde, will advise the CIP on issues of governance and port legislation, among other topics, as an Associate Staff of the OAS. On a different note, the S/CIP announced the three National Port Authority officials from the region that will receive a scholarship to complete the Professional Port Management (PPM) program at the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). These grants, awarded for the period 2015-2016 to officials from Argentina, Panama and Uruguay, are part of a new agreement signed in June between the S/CIP of the OAS and the AAPA.

June 25, 2015, Washington DC
Ministers and Authorities to address "Rural Community Tourism" in September. The next edition of the Inter-American Congress of Tourism will be held in Lima, Peru, on September 3 and 4, 2015, with the support of the OAS. The Peruvian government, through its Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR) selected the theme "Rural Community Tourism" as the central theme of this gathering, which brings together ministers and high-level authorities of tourism from the member states of the Organization, and which constitutes the principal hemispheric forum for dialogue, policymaking and Inter-American cooperation to promote tourism development in the Americas.

June 10, 2015, Washington DC
OAS-Peru-US to give voice to citizens on the environment in Trade Agreement.  The governments of Peru and the United States, in agreement with the OAS, will generate an additional space for citizens to participate in the implementation of the bilateral trade agreement, particularly as it relates to enforcing the environmental laws of both countries. The agreement establishes the Secretariat for Claims on the Compliance of Environmental Matters at the Organization’s headquarters in Washington DC, in accordance to the Chapter on the Environment of the Peru-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Within the OAS, the Secretariat will be under the Department of Sustainable Development, which has extensive experience supporting Member States in complying with environmental legislation and in encouraging the participation of civil society for sustainable development.