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CANADIAN CONTRIBUTION A MAJOR BOOST TO OAS PROGRAMS

Under an agreement signed today, the government of Canada will provide an additional (Can.)$2 million for integral development initiatives carried out by the Organization of American States (OAS) in the hemisphere. The new funding, which matches a 2006 grant Canada made for the same purpose, will provide continued support for OAS programs related to disaster management, e-government, journalism and access to information, and will extend the reach of the Social Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The grant will also help expand a successful program—called “Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technology in the Americas” (POETA)—to the Eastern Caribbean, and enable the OAS Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) to increase its efforts to improve the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises through principles and practices of corporate social responsibility.

Canada’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Graeme Clark, and Secretary General José Miguel Insulza signed the cooperation agreement during a brief ceremony at OAS headquarters. Ambassador Clark said lessons will be drawn from the successful collaboration thus far as SEDI uses support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to “extend the reach of the Social Network for Latin America and the Caribbean, to focus particularly on social protection strategies for the Caribbean.”

Clark added that the present agreement will provide timely support for ongoing negotiations of the proposed Social Charter of the Americas, in addition to responding to “key development needs and priorities identified by Caribbean countries.”

In his remarks, Clark praised SEDI and the OAS-affiliated Trust for the Americas on plans to extend the POETA initiative to Eastern Caribbean countries. With CIDA support, he said, Microsoft and local institutions and the private sector will be enlisted in the effort to provide information technology job-training for at-risk youth. The Canadian grant will also help SEDI with its program to increase small-business competitiveness. “The intention is to broaden that coverage to incorporate corporate social responsibility in the business strategies and practices of Caribbean small and medium enterprises,” said Ambassador Clark.

Ambassador Clark explained that the overall package of initiatives “constitutes a programmatic approach which responds to a number of commitments in the context of the Summits of the Americas process,” as Trinidad and Tobago prepares to host the next Summit of the Americas in 2009.

Secretary General Insulza, meanwhile, described Canada’s “generous” contribution as clear evidence that development policies promoted by the OAS share the perspective of the Canadian government. It also “confirms that we have found a cooperation mechanism whereby this relationship can be a valuable tool in service to the development in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Insulza said, adding that this new injection of financial support will facilitate new initiatives to support areas identified at the last OAS General Assembly as “vital to all the member countries.”

Insulza said the new phase of programming would continue to build human capacity and strengthen public institutions in member countries, and he noted that better democratic governance in the region will be a key objective. He said the OAS would invest the resources in a manner that improves the welfare of the citizens of the Latin America and the Caribbean as much as possible. “Besides helping the OAS carry out its mandate from member countries, these resources—coupled with other forms of support that CIDA provides the OAS through other channels—help to attract additional funds from private and public sources,” he said.

Through CIDA, Canada has supported a variety of multilateral sustainable development initiatives in the Americas. Since 2002, this has involved a (Can.)$5 million contribution to the OAS Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development. In the past, CIDA also provided annual $2 million grants to the SEDI to enhance coordination among OAS units, build external partnerships and further strengthen cooperation among countries.

Among others on hand for the signing ceremony were OAS Permanent Council Chair Ambassador María del Luján Flores of Uruguay, SEDI Executive Secretary Alfonso Quiñonez, Trust for the Americas representatives, and officials of the Canadian Permanent Mission and the OAS Secretariat.

Reference: E-016/07