Sesión protocolar

CONSEJO PERMANENTE DE LA ORGANIZACIÓN DE LOS ESTADOS AMERICANOS

ACTA DE LA SESIÓN PROTOCOLAR

CELEBRADA EL 18 DE ENERO DE 2023

En la ciudad de Washington, D.C., a las once y treinta y nueve de la mañana del miércoles 18 de enero de 2023, celebró sesión protocolar el Consejo Permanente de la Organización de los Estados Americanos para recibir al excelentísimo señor Philip Davis, K.C, Primer Ministro del Commonwealth de las Bahamas. Presidió la sesión el Embajador Anthony Phillips-Spencer, Representante Permanente de Trinidad y Tobago y Presidente del Consejo Permanente. Asistieron los siguientes miembros:

Embajadora María del Carmen Roquebert León, Representante Permanente de Panamá,

y Vicepresidente del Consejo Permanente

Embajadora Rita Claverie de Sciolli, Representante Permanente de Guatemala

Embajador Noel Anderson Lynch, Representante Permanente de Barbados

Embajadora Yolande Yvonne Smith, Representante Permanente de Grenada

Embajador Hugh Adsett, Representante Permanente del Canadá

Embajador Josué A. Fiallo Billini, Representante Permanente de la República Dominicana

Embajador Carlos Alberto Raimundi, Representante Permanente de Argentina

Embajador Washington Abdala, Representante Permanente del Uruguay

Embajadora Alejandra Solano Cabalceta, Representante Permanente de Costa Rica

Embajador Héctor Enrique Arce Zaconeta, Representante Permanente de Bolivia

Embajador Lynn Raymond Young, Representante Permanente de Belize

Embajador Samuel Hinds, Representante Permanente de Guyana

Embajador Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Representante Permanente de El Salvador

Embajador Leon Charles, Representante Permanente de Haití

Embajador Otávio Brandelli, Representante Permanente del Brasil

Embajador Chet Donovan Neymour, Representante Permanente del Commonwealth de las Bahamas

Embajadora Elizabeth Darius Clarke, Representante Permanente de Santa Lucía

Embajador Jean Marten Willem Schalkwijk, Representante Permanente de Suriname

Embajador Mauricio Montalvo Samaniego, Representante Permanente del Ecuador

Embajador Carlos Roberto Quesada López, Representante Permanente de Honduras

Embajador Sebastián Kraljevich, Representante Permanente de Chile

Embajador Francisco O. Mora, Representante Permanente de los Estados Unidos

Ministro Raúl Mariano Martínez Villalba, Representante Interino del Paraguay

Primera Secretaria Judith-Anne Rolle, Representante Interina del Commonwealth de Dominica

Consejera Sonia Boddie-Thompson, Representante Interina de Saint Kitts y Nevis

Ministra Carla María Cueva Navarro, Representante Interina del Perú

Ministra Consejera Joy-Dee Lake, Representante Alterna de Antigua y Barbuda

Ministro Consejero Omar Seitu Williams, Representante Alterno de San Vicente y las Granadinas

Segunda Secretaria Ruedi Josiane Trouchen, Representante Alterna de Trinidad y Tobago

Consejero Pedro Eliud Cisneros Cuervo, Representante Alterno de México

Ministra Sandra Lucía MikanVenegas, Representante Alterna de Colombia

Ministra Nicholette Erane Simoni Williams, Representante Alterna de Jamaica

También estuvieron presentes el Secretario General de la Organización, señor Luis Almagro Lemes, y el Secretario General Adjunto, Embajador Nestor Mendez, Secretario del Consejo Permanente.

El PRESIDENTE: Good morning. I am pleased to declare open this protocolary meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, which has been convened to receive the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, His Excellency the Honorable Philip Edward Davis, K.C.

The order of business is now approved. I invite all meeting participants to rise as we welcome His Excellency the Honorable Prime Minister. Thank you. Please be seated.

Palabras de bienvenida del Presidente del Consejo Permanente de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Embajador Anthony Phillips-Spencer, Representante Permanente de Trinidad y Tobago

El PRESIDENTE: Your Excellency the Honorable Philip Edward Davis, K.C., MP, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); distinguished members of your accompanying delegation: His Excellency the Honorable Frederick Mitchell, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas; Ambassador Chet Neymour, Permanent Representative of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Organization of American States; His Excellency Ambassador Wendall Jones, Ambassador of The Bahamas to the United States; His Excellency Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States; Ambassador Nestor Mendez, Assistant Secretary General, distinguished Permanent Observers; ladies and gentlemen.

It is my honor, as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Chair of the Permanent Council of the OAS to warmly welcome to the House of the Americas the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Chairman of CARICOM, His Excellency the Honorable Philip Edward Davis, K.C., MP.

Excellency, the OAS Permanent Council representing fellow nations of this hemisphere extends cordial greetings in solidarity and support. This morning, we welcome you to the Organization of American States, recognizing that the tropical tourist-sought beauty of the islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas will add even more warmth to this special occasion. Likewise, we extend our most sincere congratulations and our best wishes for success in your recent assumption as Chair of the Caribbean Community.

The eminent Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas is known both locally and internationally as an acclaimed corporate and human rights lawyer, a highly distinguished legal educator, a passionate sportsperson, and a Toastmaster.

He received his early education at the Old Bight All Age School in Cat Island, and the Eastern Junior and Senior Schools and St. John’s College in New Providence.

A former member of the Council of Legal Education for CARICOM, he has made an unprecedented contribution to legal education in the Caribbean region. Prime Minister Davis twice served as Vice-President of the Bar Council before becoming President of The Bahamas Bar Association in 1995.

He was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 2015 by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and retains that recognition as a King’s Counsel with the ascension of King Charles III.

During his political career, Prime Minister Davis has been a member of Parliament since 2002. In 2009, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party. After the party’s resounding win at the 2012 general election, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works and Urban Development of The Bahamas. The Honorable Philip Edward Davis is the fifth Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, where he also serves as Minister of Finance.

Honorable Prime Minister, you have an enviable and long-standing record of service to your country, your people, and our hemisphere. Since joining the OAS in 1982, The Bahamas has maintained active engagement with the Organization. This is evident in The Bahamas’ consistent participation on the Management Board of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, which steers the development agenda of the OAS, and, among other things, oversees funds used to enhance the OAS Scholarships and Training Program. The Bahamas has also remained steadfast in its commitment to the work and initiatives of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD).

The Bahamas continues to play a leading role in promoting fiscal governance reforms and adopting international best practices within this Organization. In that vein, this Permanent Council has been pleased to elect by acclamation your country’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Chet Neymour, as the Chair of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) for this year. Prime Minister Davis, we are confident that Ambassador Neymour’s vast experience and expertise will be of great value in addressing the financial challenges facing the Organization of American States at this transformational juncture in its existence.

As the Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago, a fellow CARICOM nation, I reiterate our shared and deep commitment to advancing initiatives within the CARICOM region and the broader hemisphere in the areas of climate change and development financing, energy security, food and nutrition security, global and regional economic integration, multidimensional resilience and security, and sustainable and integral human and social development, and, of course, for progress in Haiti.

Honorable Prime Minister, the OAS member states thank you for your visit today.

Palabras del Secretario General de la Organización de los

Estados Americanos, Luis Almagro

El PRESIDENTE: In accordance with the order of business of this protocolary meeting, at this time, I am pleased to offer the floor to His Excellency Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States. Secretary General, the floor is yours.

El SECRETARIO GENERAL: Thank you Chair. Distinguished colleagues and friends, it is with great pleasure that I welcome Prime Minister Philip Davis here today.

Firstly, Prime Minister, I wish to extend my warmest congratulations to you on becoming the new Chair of CARICOM. The CARICOM constituency of the OAS has provided a strategic balance and reasoning on matters that affect all the peoples of the Americas. The values of good neighborliness and a firm belief in the democratization of our institutions are what positions the Caribbean region among us. It is also for this reason that I have listened keenly to my Caribbean brothers and sisters, and empathize with their pride on issues related to climate change, minimal access to concessional financing, energy, and other risks associated with food insecurity and national security.

To this end, I take this moment to fully support your pledge, as CARICOM Chair, to address the issue of climate change. Recognizing the many vulnerabilities and exogenous shocks to which OAS member states are exposed as the result of climate change, in October 2022, the OAS General Secretariat presented its report called “Climate Change, Life, Democracy, Freedom, Justice, Equality.” The report emphasizes, among other matters, the urgent need to tackle the issue of climate change through international mediums and public-private sector engagement, through a modern policy that seeks to avoid the displacement of our people in the Western Hemisphere. We share your priorities as Chair of CARICOM.

Prime Minister, in this, its forty-first year of membership in the Organization of American States, The Bahamas has played a significant role in supporting the OAS mandate to promote democracy, peace, security, and development within the region. Mr. Prime Minister, The Bahamas has a track record of holding free and fair elections, and has displayed its confidence in the OAS Charter by inviting OAS Electoral Observation Missions three times, the last of which saw you succeed in becoming Prime Minister in September 2021. We applaud the democratic commitment of your people to secure just and peaceful measures to maintain democracy in the Americas.

We must never fail to denounce all acts of aggression against our peoples and democratic institutions. The rule of law must always prevail and ensure that there is no reward for chaos and anarchy.

Prime Minister, I believe we share the same desires in that we want to provide the people of the Americas with responsible and accountable governance. Criminal elements that seek to corrode our institutions must not be allowed to succeed. So, I welcome this journey with you, Prime Minister, in the coming months as CARICOM Chair, and in the future beyond, with your country, to promote a stable and peaceful solution for our peoples.

Thank you very much.

El PRESIDENTE: Thank you, Mr. Secretary General.

Palabras del Primer Ministro del Commonwealth de las Bahamas, excelentísimo señor Philip Davis, K.C

El PRESIDENTE: I now have the distinct honor to offer the floor to His Excellency, the Honorable Philip Edward Davis, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and Chairman of CARICOM.

Honorable Prime Minister, you have the floor.

El PRIMER MINISTRO DEL COMMONWEALTH DE LAS BAHAMAS: Chair of the Permanent Council, Your Excellency Phillips-Spencer, Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago; Secretary General and good friend Luis Almagro; Assistant Secretary General Nestor Mendez; Ambassadors; diplomatic Representatives; and friends: I bring greetings today both as Prime Minister of The Bahamas and as Chair of the Caribbean Community.

I do so at an auspicious time and occasion for both my country and for CARICOM, both of which are primed to celebrate fifty years of formal existence this year, in 2023. For The Bahamas and for the states of CARICOM, it has been a journey that in actuality stretches back centuries to the fateful meeting of the Old World and New World on the shores of San Salvador Island in The Bahamas, and incidentally, the constituency that I represent in Parliament--an island that was built on the backs of the victims of slavery and native genocide, fueled by the blood, sweat and tears of our forebears who strove for decolonization, self-determination, and majority rule, and that has been shaped by the modern realization that functional cooperation among sovereign states is the most effective means to confront the common challenges that we face.

It is, therefore, indeed a great honor and pleasure to address the Permanent Council today in this hallowed Hall of the Americas. This Organization, the OAS, and its predecessors—the Bureau of American Republics and the Pan American Union—too were built upon the intrepid foundation of Simón Bolívar’s dream of unity among the sovereign states across the continent nearly two hundred years ago. A dream that, while temporarily deferred at that time, has borne fruit in each successive iteration of this body as it sought to keep pace with the frenetic evolution of the hemisphere--at first reflecting the ambitions of the new republics in South America, then responding to the upheavals of the conflicts of the early twentieth century, eventually expanding its membership to include the newly independent island states of the Caribbean, and dealing with the new political and economic paradigms that emerged in the wake of the Cold War.

The OAS has much to be proud of as the world’s oldest regional organization--one that has been in the vanguard of global standards around democratic, economic, and social rights. One of the most enduring characteristics of this institution over time, however, has perhaps been its adaptability, its capacity to be remade to meet the exigencies of the moment.

We know that the challenges to our countries and the hemisphere are protracted and profuse, chief among them being the existential threat of climate change, stark inequality and economic dislocation, the unacceptable levels of citizen insecurity plaguing our societies, and the increasing strain on our democratic and human rights institutions.

Friends, I believe, that we are at another critical juncture in our hemisphere’s history, where the relevance of the Organization of American States is being tested, and where we must once again set our minds, collectively, to move beyond the reflex to become mired in lamentation and introspection, and we must, with the fierce urgency of now, move towards taking concrete action to renew this OAS and our wider inter-American system to ensure fitness for purpose and readiness for such a time as this.

If the Organization of American States is to maintain its relevance for the small island and low-lying coastal developing states among its membership, it must do more to support climate action across the Americas. My country of The Bahamas is the proverbial “patient zero” for man-made climate change. We need look no further than the destruction wrought a little over four years ago by Hurricane Dorian, a storm which, while unprecedented in intensity and duration at the time, we know foreshadows the existential threats yet to come.

While we advocate for developed countries and those that have most contributed to our plight to summon the moral fortitude to do more, we will still do all that we can to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The Bahamas is leading by example through transitioning our fleet of government cars to electric vehicles and retrofitting government buildings with renewable energy infrastructure. We are partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank to better leverage our sunny climes through supporting the construction of solar energy projects, including micro-grids for generation and storage capacity in islands where the electricity infrastructure was badly damaged by Hurricane Dorian. We are also leveraging our vast natural oceanic sinks through launching the world’s first blue carbon credits—a regime that we hope more nations across the Americas can model.

The Bahamas is doing its part to innovate and find solutions to the ever-present threat of climate change, but the hard truth is that it will not be enough. At least eleven major storms have made landfall in The Bahamas over the past two decades. Bahamians do not need to look at the science to know that these storms are getting more intense, much more quickly, and for longer periods of time.

Approximately half of my country’s debt can be linked to the devastation caused by hurricanes. Being locked into a generations-long vicious cycle of devastation and recovery from storms not only crowds out development prospects but also undermines socio-economic stability, and countries like The Bahamas are perilously close to being all loaned out or borrowed out.

This is an all-too-familiar story for our brothers and sisters across CARICOM and the Central American Integration System (SICA). Our peoples are strong and resilient, but we will need support to meet the formidable environmental challenges that lie before us.

We look to the Organization of American States and to the partner institutions that comprise the inter-American system to resolutely implement the commitments made at the Ninth Summit of the Americas and most recently at the Lima General Assembly on climate action. The Bahamas and countries like mine can benefit from the demonstrated capacity of the OAS with human development, training and capacity building in areas of urgent need, such as climate-smart skills and disaster preparedness and recovery.

One of this Organization’s great strengths is also its convening power. In the coming months, we look forward to this virtue being wielded not only for advocacy for greater global ambition in climate action, but also to build hemispheric consensus on priorities and opportunities for partnership.

In this vein, I am pleased to advise that The Bahamas is currently giving strong consideration to hosting the next OAS Sustainable Development Ministerial Convocation, where the focus would be on climate action and climate finance. We are also examining the possibility of coordinating dedicated engagement between states and the international financial institutions, or IFIs, to derive a climate finance model that meets in real and tangible, mutually accepted terms with the needs of the region and hemisphere.

The Bahamas and the wider CARICOM region believe that the time has come for business-as-usual models for development finance, cooperation, and aid to fall away. As the challenges to sustainable development have evolved and as our understanding of development needs has become more comprehensive, so too must the institutions mandated to support our development innovate and produce financing models, lending strategies, and aid criteria that meet the moment. We must move towards incorporation of a more multidimensional set of criteria, which accounts for vulnerability, as the standard assessment metric of development needs within our international financial institutions and aid agencies, at the very least for projects focused on climate action, renewable energy or disaster preparation, response, and recovery.

We are pleased by the advancements being made at some of the multilateral banks within the Hemisphere, such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, on better accounting for socio-economic and environmental vulnerability, and now also for capacity to recover, but we hope to see this progress institutionalized across the inter-American development financing and aid architecture.

With respect to climate finance, The Bahamas believes meaningful progress on the mandate for greater access, affordability and adequacy of highly concessional and non-reimbursable funding for mitigation and adaptation efforts, particularly for small island and low-lying coastal developing states, is long overdue and, again, we welcome the support of the OAS in engaging with development banks that serve the Americas and other relevant partners on this important matter.

Our brothers and sisters in Haiti, the heirs of the great revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, deserve what all of our citizens expect: a country where each person feels safe, where each citizen has an equal stake in shaping political direction, where there is no want for basic needs and where all can pursue their legitimate aspirations. The ongoing instability in Haiti poses a threat not only to the people of Haiti but also for my country, The Bahamas, and neighbors in the region who face the enhanced prospect of irregular and often dangerous migration.

It is lamentable that there are currently no elected officials in Haiti. We laud, however, the recent political agreement reached between the transitional government, several opposition parties, and civil society on a framework to convene elections before the close of 2023, including the creation of a tripartite High Council to oversee the transitional period. We know that real work still remains, and we encourage all relevant actors to engage, in good faith, on the efforts to make political progress in Haiti.

We also commend the proposals shared by the Haitian government to arrest the threat to public security posed by violent gangs, to undercut burgeoning food insecurity, and to quell the political crisis that has gripped the country. These Haiti-led solutions provide helpful alternatives to the usual inclinations to carry out activities about Haiti without Haiti, and the predisposition to invest in the strengthening of the non-governmental organizations in Haiti as opposed strengthening her public institutions.

Yet, more must be done to help Haitians create the enabling environment for economic stability, maintenance of the peace, political reform, and rebuilding trust in public institutions. The Bahamas and CARICOM stand ready to support these efforts. However, our limited resources mean that we will need the assistance of our friends with greater means. The Bahamas calls for the creation of a standing forum at the Organization of American States to discuss the practical steps that member states and the inter-American institutions can take to continue supporting the people of Haiti.

Chief among these steps could be the development of an integrated strategy to rebuild Haiti, such as was done with the Plan Colombia. With each passing day, Haiti’s Civilian Police courageously take on the more than 100 violent gangs ravaging the country. Scaled-up capacity building for the local police and provision of material resources to buttress efforts to secure the deployment of humanitarian resources are needed now.

Another area where enhanced regional partnership can be acutely effective is with tackling trafficking, particularly in people, contraband, and guns. The heartbreaking gang violence that we see in Haiti, particularly in areas such as Cité Soleil, are facilitated by access to illicit guns. These are not guns manufactured in Haiti, nor are they manufactured within the CARICOM region. The Bahamas is also being hard-hit by illegal trans-shipment of guns, which has fueled recent incidents of violent crime.

I reiterate, as I did at the most recent Summit, that our region urges those states in the Hemisphere that manufacture guns to further scale their cooperation with the region, to limit the harmful proliferation of weapons of war on our streets. We commend the work that the OAS continues to do in this space—through the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), and the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE)—and encourage efforts for even deeper cooperation across the Hemisphere to meet the transnational challenges that trafficking in people, guns, and drugs pose to our collective peace and stability.

Friends, it was not too long ago in my country that the voice and vote of someone who looked like me did not matter much. I was a teenager when my country finally secured majority rule, a concept integral to democracy as we appreciate it today. I, and many of you, are living testaments to not only how far some of our countries have come in a short time, but also the stark democratic realities to which we must never return.

We know that democracy can be fragile; it is not something to be taken for granted. It is a state that must be earned and, day by day, renewed. Just one week ago, all of us watched in disbelief as the violent mob stormed government buildings in Brazil in an effort to overturn outcomes of free and fair elections that the mob did not agree with. Political violence, in all its forms, must be condemned and confronted, and can never be tolerated anywhere in the Americas. I reiterate the solidarity of the Government and people of The Bahamas, and CARICOM, with President Lula da Silva and the Government of Brazil, and our unwavering commitment to democracy and rule of law.

The scenes in Brasilia, though, had an all-too-familiar feel to those witnessed just a few years ago here in Washington, D.C. It should concern us all that the tactics of intimidation and aggression are becoming the preferred tools of those across our Hemisphere and indeed around the globe, who feel entitled to the trappings of power. We also know that there are growing factions within our societies, often working together across borders, who weaponize potentially earnest concerns around representation and good governance among citizens by preying on their worse impulses in order to sow discord and anarchy.

I believe that the OAS can and should lead the way in facilitating greater hemispheric cooperation to deal with the newly emerging scourge of disinformation, which undermines public confidence in public institutions and seeks to unduly influence democratic outcomes.

The Bahamas, and the wider CARICOM region, pride ourselves on our modern history of guaranteeing vibrant, free, fair, and open elections. We value the electoral observation work of the OAS and similarly mandated entities which helps provide accountability for the democratic principles that we claim to espouse. However, we also believe these efforts must be done in an objective, impartial and transparent manner, with due respect for the principles of noninterference.

As I look around today at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, it is noteworthy that representatives of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are not present. After decades of expansion, loss of membership is a worrying trend and, while it is imperative that we hold each other to account for the high principles we have set for ourselves, if we are honest, there is much that we can learn from past approaches that can improve future outcomes.

We do not see the Organization of American States as just a meeting of allies or friends; it is a meeting of the countries of the Hemisphere that all are facing similar developmental, security, and democratic challenges and that understand that collaboration and collective action will help us all. The Bahamas still believes that diplomatic solutions, consultation, and preserving an openness to talk to one another will lead to faster and more durable solutions. The Bahamas supports efforts to breathe new life into the Inter-American Democratic Charter so that it can become more proactive and responsive to cracks and tremors in the fault lines of our democratic institutions, but our work in this space must always be guided by the need to prioritize consultation and diplomatic engagement.

Lastly, friends, if we are to continue to build the prosperous, equitable, safe, and democratic Americas that we envision, we must soberly and constructively take stock of the multilateral architecture that undergirds our efforts. The Good Book warns us of the folly of trying to pour new wine into old skins. Are the institutions within our inter-American system still fit for purpose or do they require recalibration or, in some cases, rethinking? Do our countries really value these institutions—the OAS, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)?

I wish to affirm, on behalf of the people of The Bahamas, that we do value these institutions, and this is precisely why we are invested in seeing them work even better. Demonstrated relevance for meeting national priorities and, where pertinent, restoration of impaired trust with member states should drive our collective efforts around reform.

We cannot, however, expect this Organization, or any of the other elements of the inter-American system, to effectively work for us if we refuse to invest in them. Thirty years ago, at the General Assembly convened in Nassau, The Bahamas, our countries saw fit to adopt a resolution reminding member states of their obligation to pay quotas. In real terms, accounting for inflation and cost of living adjustments alone, the regular budget of this Organization today is about half of what it was then.

Talk is indeed cheap; it is easy to renege on commitments, particularly when there are no costs to doing so, or to become captive to the complacency of the status quo, undesirable as it may be. But this Organization, the Organization of American States, is too important for us to continue to fiddle as it withers; and we betray our forebears and the promise of the OAS if we refuse to take restorative action. I therefore urge this Council with dispatch to commence and elevate to the highest levels the political discussions on concrete actions to be taken to begin to remedy the fiscal health of our Organization.

In conclusion, thirty years ago, the father of the modern Bahamas, former Prime Minister the late Right Honorable Lynden Pindling, opened the twenty-second regular session of the OAS General Assembly in Nassau by admonishing that “what we do in this Organization must always hark back to the people from whom we get our mandate and without whose guidance all of our efforts will be meaningless.”

This is the purpose at the heart of our Charter, whose opening words proclaim that “the historic mission of America is to offer to man a land of liberty and a favorable environment for the development of his personality and the realization of his just aspirations.”

To meet these noble ambitions, the old impulses of egoism, domination, and exploitation that governed the engagement of prior generations must fall away if we are to achieve the full potential of the Americas, and in their place, we must build a new paradigm for hemispheric multilateralism grounded in mutuality, respect, a focus on results, and an urgency that is commensurate to the tasks that lie before us.

Our citizens grow impatient; they expect membership in multilateral institutions to count for something and to yield tangible benefits that they can touch and feel. They expect our governments to rise to the occasion of the great challenges of our time—mitigating climate change, facilitating sustainable development, shoring up public security, and preserving democracy.

We have seen what the consequences are when we dither, when we submit to the allure of complacency, or believe that we can leave solving our collective challenges to someone else or for some other time. What we know intimately in The Bahamas, and across the CARICOM region, is that no man is an island; what affects one impacts all and many hands make light work.

Friends, let this year be a year of collective and purposeful action for the OAS and the institutions of the inter-American system. Let us march forward, hand in hand, animated by that spiritual unity first dreamed of by Bolívar centuries ago. I am convinced that our countries are up to the challenge.

El PRESIDENTE: Thank you very much for your inspiring, insightful, and instructive presentation, Honorable Prime Minister.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this protocolary meeting. Thank you all for the honor of your attendance.

At this time, respecting social distancing guidelines, I invite you all to please proceed forward to be received by the Prime Minister individually, starting with the delegation closest to the exit, and as guided by our Chief of Protocol and team. Please rise from your seats so that we may proceed now to be received by the Honorable Prime Minister.

This meeting is adjourned.

[Se levanta la sesión a las 12:19 p.m.]