Caribbean
Net News
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com
03 19 06
The Organization of American States (OAS) will hold the thirty-sixth
regular session of its annual General Assembly in La Romana,
Dominican Republic, from June 4 to 6, under the central theme
of “Good Governance and Democratic Development in the
Knowledge-Based Society.”
The Secretary
of State of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, Carlos
Morales Troncoso, signed the General Assembly agreement along
with Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, at OAS headquarters
Wednesday.
They also
signed an agreement relating to the sixth Meeting of Ministers
of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas,
to be held April 24-26 in Santo Domingo.
Morales
Troncoso said technology is vital to development and ensures
that in the process of globalization, technological development
will not leave Latin America behind.
He reiterated
his ideas in addressing a special meeting of the OAS Permanent
Council -- chaired by Ambassador Marina Valere of Trinidad and
Tobago -- as he presented the “Draft Declaration of La
Romana,” which his government was proposing for the member
states to debate, agree on and issue at the General Assembly
session in June.
“The
government of the Dominican Republic firmly believes that the
knowledge-based society is a platform guaranteed to deliver
development, democracy, transparency and good governance,”
Morales Troncoso told the assembled diplomats, Secretary General
Insulza and Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin.
The salient
issue, he stressed, is being able to turn knowledge into a critical
asset for development and the strengthening of the learning
process so it can be used more broadly and productively.
Pointing
to the transformation underway in countries where expansion
of the information sector is an engine of development, the Dominican
official said the draft declaration advanced by his government
also proposes that the OAS “could provide a new regional
political stimulus for that process.”
Explaining
that the Dominican government had selected the central theme
by revisiting “initiatives to which our nations had committed
themselves more than a decade ago,” Morales Troncoso recalled
that at the first Summit of the Americas, in 1994, the Heads
of State and Government set a goal to provide the public with
greater access to information from government institutions.
They also
underscored the importance of using technology for international
networks to facilitate trade, education and health care, among
other things.
“By
fostering transparency in government and by facilitating, expanding
and modernizing essential public services, these commitments
-- in the area that is now referred to as e-government -- will
be key to development, good governance and strong institutions,”
said Morales Troncoso, who hosted a press conference following
his address to the OAS Permanent Council.
