Cooperation, information sharing and the promotion of partnerships

A very good morning to each of you. Madam Chair; Mr. Secretary General.

The Mission of the Dominican Republic wishes to express its thanks both to the Chair of this Permanent Council and to the Department of External and Institutional Relations of the Organization of American States for giving continuity to these meetings with the permanent observers, since they give us the opportunity to draw closer and to discuss cooperation and how or where they can be more active, according to the needs of the areas that require it within the development pillar. We also highlight the role and the contributions of the permanent observer States in this Organization, which help to keep advancing the four pillars on which the OAS rests, and we thank them for their presence in the dialogues we hold.

We wish to stress that every contribution and form of support, whether financial, technical or of any other kind, makes it possible for us, as beneficiaries, to put it to use for the continued development of our Organization, its staff, the member states and our peoples.

Within the framework of the OAS, we wish to urge the observer countries to support the funds we have in the area of integral development, in particular the Inter-American Emergency Aid Fund (FONDEM), the area of social development and the scholarship fund. Each year the region suffers more natural catastrophes, whether because of their recurrence or the magnitude of their damage. After each disaster the sum of the losses is considerable, and what remains is the vulnerability of its populations and the growth of poverty to its extreme. For that reason we wish to remind each of you of the existence of the Inter-American Emergency Aid Fund, as I mentioned, which was created to support the political role of the OAS in this matter and to demonstrate the solidarity of the member states of the Organization by taking part in the coordination of aid in the face of natural disasters in the Hemisphere. Since FONDEM receives voluntary contributions from whoever wishes to make them, we invite the observer countries to consider, multilaterally, cooperating with this Fund, which benefits all the member states of the OAS in those moments of tragedy that bring us closer, make us more supportive of one another and allow us to remember that we are one large family.

To continue consolidating the work and the promotion of social inclusion with equity in the Hemisphere, the Department of Social Inclusion of the Secretariat for Access to Rights and Equity (SARE) of the OAS needs to implement the Plan of Action of Guatemala, a concrete document for promoting social development in the Americas, and in order to implement it we have created a specific fund of voluntary contributions to finance the activities contained in that Plan. Financial contributions to this Fund from the observer countries would therefore be welcome; it will help to fulfil the commitment we all share to eradicate poverty and inequality and to promote social development in the Americas.

On another matter, the promotion of education is of the highest importance for the proper strengthening of the human capital of the region. We must therefore keep advancing and promoting the training programs that the OAS offers through the Department of Human Development, Education and Employment of the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), so that we continue strengthening our institutions and our young people, who wish each day to better themselves and are constantly seeking opportunities that offer a quality education. However, the resources the OAS allocates to these programs are not sufficient, and we need the support of the observer countries to continue in order to keep increasing the number of scholarships and training courses offered, since education and employment are cornerstones of development, an essential element for our future in building a stronger society with more solid democracies.

We thank Spain, China, Macedonia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands and South Korea for their important contributions over these years to the education and preparation of young people in the Americas, and we invite the other observer countries to join this effort.

We present these three areas of the integral development pillar for your consideration as areas that need financial cooperation to begin or continue their operations and to increase cooperation in the multilateral sphere. We wish to continue working closely with each of you, permanent observers, and to keep strengthening dialogue, cooperation, exchange and the promotion of partnerships.

Thank you very much.