Visit of the Foreign Minister of Suriname, Albert Ramdin

Thank you, Madam Chair,

It is an honor for me to take the floor on behalf of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA), to greet and extend the warmest welcome to this “House of the Americas” to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation of Suriname, His Excellency Albert Ramdin.

We likewise express to the Chair our satisfaction at the convening of this special meeting of the Permanent Council.

Mr. Minister, we thank you for your presentation on Caribbean perspectives on the inter-American system.

The SICA regional group has taken note of what has been said here and takes this opportunity to recognize the commitment your country has announced to supporting the region's remaining one of peace, with ever greater unity.

In the same way, we welcome the interest in deepening the ties of interregional cooperation in the Americas. From the Central American Integration System (SICA) we stand ready to continue working jointly with CARICOM, and we reaffirm our commitment to advancing a common agenda.

Your reading of the pressing need to accelerate cooperation in economic matters, in security, and in the movement of goods, merchandise and people, and to expand connectivity, is one that we all view with sympathy.

Mr. Minister, as you have rightly pointed out in various forums, most of us in this room share interests and needs, but also threats; in particular global warming and climate change, which bring shifting weather patterns that cause mass displacements of population, bring the destruction of property and expose our vulnerabilities ever more starkly. None of these problems can be addressed by any of us individually; they require collective and coordinated action.

Moreover, more pressing than ever is the challenge of food security, along with the difficulties created by inflation and the scant availability of financing for mitigation and adaptation in the face of natural disasters, in an international context in which the war in Europe shrouds us in uncertainty.

Our region brings together all the potential needed to use its natural resources and human capital, strategically and collectively, for effective development.

As President Santokhi said at the beginning of this month of July: we need a creative approach, to embrace the culture of innovation, to create more room for public-private partnerships and to hand ever more responsibilities and opportunities to young people.

An effective system of multilateral diplomacy is an essential link in bringing all of this together in the Hemisphere. Without doubt, “action is needed now.”

Your presence here at the Organization of American States is testimony to the recognition and value that this forum holds for those ends.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.