[Antigua] Poverty, education, jobs on OAS 2006 agenda

From The Antiqua Sun

The Organisation of American States (OAS) will this year devote much greater attention to the key development issues of poverty, education and job creation for the Americas – issues that “need to be on the front-burner of the OAS,” Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin has said.

In a year-end review on OAS Radio’s “The Americas Today”, Ambassador Ramdin, who is in charge of the general secretariat, looked at developments in the Americas in 2005, describing the year as very hectic for the hemisphere and the international community in general.

He said with the new OAS leadership of Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and himself, the focus has been on key political issues such as democratic governance and highlighting the OAS’ own success stories.

As for the outlook for the coming year, he noted priority will be on how, in bringing democratic governability and sustainable economies to the hemisphere, greater focus can be placed on development issues—poverty, education and job creation. Noting there will be some 10 elections in member states in 2006, which will require “dedicated attention from the OAS,” the OAS assistant secretary general underscored the relevant role the OAS plays in that regard in the Western Hemisphere, but also stressed the need to examine what happens after elections, in terms of governability.

The OAS Permanent Council plans an 18 Jan., 2006 special session “fully dedicated to development issues in the hemisphere,” says Ramdin. That session is intended to bring to OAS headquarters the leaders of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Development Bank of Central America and the Development Bank of the Andean Community. They will articulate the challenges, which they face in their own region. And, argues the assistant secretary general, this is one way to bring the development agenda to the fore and link it with the political agenda, which emphasises democracy and human rights.

He said that during 2006, development and solidarity must be given renewed focus. In that sense, Ambassador Ramdin said the Organisation proposes to further stress the development agenda because it must be understood that “democracy in itself cannot be an end in itself - it’s just a vehicle for creating that kind of stability, security, a safe environment for the population now, but more importantly for those who come after us.”