|
|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
OAS Photos
|
The
Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) met
today in the framework of a special meeting to hear presentations from
experts in international relations and telecommunications on the topic
of “Diplomacy, development, and governance,” which were followed by
deliberations by the representatives of the member countries on the
importance of these issues in the context of the work being done to
formulate and structure a new Strategic Vision for the OAS.
The Chair of the Permanent Council and Representative of Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines to the OAS, La Celia Prince, opened the
meeting by setting out her intention that the discussion “should serve
to reinforce and promote the opportunity for this Organization to be a
pioneer of a new diplomacy that champions sustainable economic
development through strengthened governance and fueled by the capacity
afforded us by technological advancement.” She added that “today´s
discussions may even be more important in light of the current
elaboration of the United Nations post-2015 development agenda and a
growing acceptance that sustainable development considerations will be
fundamental for advancing social inclusion, economic growth, and
governability.”
The Director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, Joseph Mifsud,
delivered a presentation on the relationship between diplomacy and
development in a complex global environment, noting that “the diplomatic
environment of the twenty first century is marked by change and
uncertainty. There is an expansion in the number and variety of
international actors, empowered by Information and Communication
Technologies and social media.” He said that states continue to be
important actors in international affairs and therefore “government
diplomacy remains a significant factor in protecting national interests
developing global governance and also the promotion of international
peace and security.”
Director Mifsud explained that the concept of diplomacy includes
“a set of processes for the management of an environment” and “a set of
structures through which these processes operate.” In an increasingly
complex environment, he added, diplomacy “is experiencing an existential
crisis. There is uncertainty. Political agendas are completely
changing. And also norms, rules and roles associated with diplomacy seem
to be changing all the time,” he added.
In the process of analyzing the consequences of this scenario,
said the Ambassador, there are three key steps. “First, to be clear as
to the assumptions on which differing images of diplomacy and the
diplomatic profession are based,” he said. In second place, he noted the
importance of identifying the parameters of the challenges that exist
in the current policy environment, and the requirements these impose on
diplomatic institutions. “Third,” concluded the Director, “is the need
to locate the ways in which the functions of contemporary diplomacy are
adapting or need to adapt to changes that transcend traditional
conceptions of the international and domestic policy domains.”
Building resilience for sustainable growth in developing states
was the focus of the presentation from the Deputy Chief of Cabinet in
the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly (68th
Session) and Former Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United
Nations, Noel Sinclair, who said that “at its heart this special session
of the Council is about the OAS strengthening its engagement with the
question of change. Change in the planet, change in the relations
between states, between states and people, between regions, between
people and the planet.”
During the most recent debate of the UN General Assembly, said
Ambassador Sinclair, the idea emerged that “it was not enough to tinker
with the international status quo, but that what was needed was a
revolution – a fundamental change in the structure of international
economic life, a new system of relations among us all that was more
consistent with the ethos of community and which would deal with the
basic fundamental question of poverty and the need for its eradication.”
This new vision led to the concept of sustainable development,
said Sinclair, and the elaboration of 17 sustainable development goals.
On the path to these goals, Ambassador Sinclair expresses his hope that
“as we unite our emotional and intellectual energies in pursuit of the
vision of the planet as one single community, we also not simply
strengthen but give greater substance to the vision of this region Latin
America and the Caribbean as a single community. This effort needs to
go beyond symbolism.”
For his part, the President of the Dominican Telecommunications
Institute (INDOTEL), and current Chair of Inter-American
Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) of the OAS, Gedeon Santos,
explained how technology should be promoted as a tool for fighting
poverty and promoting effective public governance. In that sense, he
said that although the region has made significant progress in the fight
against poverty, "the technological development has created a new form
of poverty and exclusion, resulting from the inability of a person to
enter, dominate and enjoy information and communication technologies
(ICT)"
ICT "are the expression of a deep and powerful convergence process
that has changed the way we live, and relate," said Santos, adding that
part of this transformation affects the management of public
institutions. As an example he mentioned the potential that ICTs have
generated to raise the level of interaction between people and
governments, which has allowed a better and broader citizen
participation and has made accountability and transparency more
effective.
"The power of ICT as a tool for economic and social development
has led governments to undertake programs aimed at bridging the digital
divide, which is a pressing need in Latin America," stressed the
President of CITEL, citing figures from the United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) that indicate
that the highest income quintile of the region has a rate of internet
access up to five times that of the lowest income quintile. Challenges
such as reduced infrastructure, education level, issues of security and
universalization, continued Santos “are the biggest challenges to access
broadband”. The Dominican official closed his presentation by noting
that CITEL should be promoted as a hemispheric forum to promote the
issue of telecommunications, and to expand the hemispheric dialogue
among countries on this issue.
Ambassador Hugo de Zela, Chief of Staff of the Secretary General
José Miguel Insulza, congratulated the President of the Council for the
initiative to bring the issue for debate at the Council. "This
initiative is particularly useful at a time when we are in the process
of building a Strategic Vision of the Organization for the twenty-first
century," he said, arguing that "perspectives as the ones we received
today can be very useful to enrich the debate that still lie ahead for
us."
The OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Sherry
Tross, summarized the exchange referring to the interdependence between
the issues of diplomacy, development, governance and international
cooperation. She recalled that international affairs are going through a
process of adaptation and evolution with particular emphasis on the
south-south and horizontal cooperation efforts that have been launched
in various parts of the world and highlighted the nature of
participation and inclusiveness in which governments have embarked to
discuss new policies at the national and hemispheric levels.
In today's session the representatives of Venezuela, Honduras, El
Salvador, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica,
Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, United States,
Mexico and Saint Lucia took the floor.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
