When Colombia assumed the Pro Tempore Secretariat of the Rio Group
in January, our country also undertook
a two-fold commitment: to strengthen the Group as a regional mechanism
for consultation and concerted political
action and to consolidate its role as an actor in the international
arena, through more active participation in
policy-making forums and dialogues.
The XIV Summit of Presidents, held in Cartagena de Indias, represented
a decisive step forward in the fulfilment
of these two commitments, but also represented an example of the growing
leadership that Colombia has shown
and is showing at the regional level in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Cartagena Summit was the largest gathering of Heads of State and
Government which the Rio Group has
convened, with 15 Presidents and delegations from 19 member States in
attendance, including from the Central
American countries participating in their individual capacities and
from the Dominican Republic.
Also participating in the Summit were high-level guests, the most
notable of whom were the Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Louise Frechette, who made
the journey specifically to exchange ideas
with the Foreign Ministers on the Millennium Summit; the Secretary-General
of the Organization of American
States, Cesar Gaviria; the President of the Latin American Reserve Fund,
the Executive Secretary of ECLAC;
and the Presidents of the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique Iglesias,
and of the Andean Development
Corporation, Enrique García, each of whom made presentations
at the Open Presidential Forum on the subject of
reform of the international financial system and the role of regional
organizations.
Both in format and in content, the Cartagena Summit may be said to
have marked a necessary milestone in the
work of the Group. The Cartagena Summit issued the following documents
in a mixed programme of work which
included for both Foreign Ministers and Presidents meetings with delegations
that had pre-set agendas and
private meetings with open-ended agendas:
Firstly, the Cartagena de Indias Declaration: Commitment for the Millennium,
which reflects the common
positions of the region on the main issues on the agenda of the Millennium
Summit to he held in the United
Nations in September.
The Declaration was issued with an Introductory Note that reaffirms
the commitment of the Presidents of the Rio
Group to "present this document as the region's contribution to
the agenda of the Summit" and states that the
Heads of State "shall agree on the manner in which the positions
contained in the Declaration shall be jointly
expressed in the various working groups".
The text includes a key element for this debate, which is to be held
in the United Nations, namely, a commitment
to multilateralism, with the strengthening of global and regional multilateral
institutions and with broad and
democratic participation in these institutions, as a mechanism for ensuring
just and balanced approaches to global
problems. It also includes the commitment of our countries to the human
dimension of development, our position
on the priority issues on the global agenda and in particular on the
issue of reform of the international financial
system.
The text first recounts the legacies of our region, which represent
our assets as we seek to insert our countries
into the international system of globalization. It next outlines the
commitments which as a region we are pledged to
assume for this purpose and our own positions on each of the principal
items on the agenda.
Secondly, the Presidents issued a series of specific statements on
issues which they considered to be of key
importance and on which they wished to state their position for the
record and also gave a series of specific
undertakings:
- Cartagena Commitment to Democracy
In this statement, the Presidents declare their intention to strengthen
representative democracy as a system of
government, promote its values as a way of life and defend the institutions
of democracy and the rule of law in
Latin America and the Caribbean and affirm their commitment to the holding
of periodic elections based on the
principles of legality, transparency and equity and organized and sanctioned
by independent organs of the State.
They also express their intention to enhance the effectiveness of democratic
institutions in the region through
greater social integration and effective, ethical and responsible participation
by citizens.
- Decision of Heads of State and Government of the Rio Group on International
Trade
In this decision, the Presidents express their confidence in the expansion
of international trade as an instrument for
increasing prosperity in our countries. They therefore once again proposed
the launching of a new round of
comprehensive global trade negotiations in the forum of the World Trade
Organization from which no sector
would be excluded and which would be aimed at significantly reducing
tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in
goods and services and at ensuring the removal of agricultural export
subsidies in the developed countries and any
other factors that distort world trade to the disadvantage of the developing
countries.
- Decision of Heads of State and Government of the Rio Group on the
petroleum market
Reiterates the appeal of the countries of the Rio Group to the principal
oil exporting countries of the world to
make additional efforts to stabilize the international petroleum market
at price levels that are consistent with the
medium and long-term interests of suppliers and demanders in the market.
- Directive of the Presidents of the Rio Group on the establishment
of a high-level working group
The directive entrusts the Pro Tempore Secretariat and the Troika
with a mandate to elaborate the guidelines
referred to by the Heads of State and to establish a high-level group
to review the objectives and mechanisms of
the Rio Group.
- Declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the Rio Group
on the peace process in
Colombia.
The Declaration reaffirms the support of the Heads of State and Government
of the Rio Group for the efforts of
the President of Colombia to achieve a firm and lasting peace and reconciliation
in the country. It also expresses
the confidence of the Presidents that the measures being adopted will
help to reduce the level of violence and
pave the way for a lasting peace.
Finally, the Presidents expressed their support for the social and
economic development plans and for the
strengthening of institutions which the Colombian Government is promoting.
All of these documents, but, in particular, the level and depth of
the discussions and the commitments given and
assumed, both at the meeting of foreign ministers and at the meeting
of Presidents, made the Cartagena Summit
an event of great importance for the concertation of policies in Latin
America and strengthened the Rio Group as
a mechanism for consultation and concertation of political action.
Colombia received the solid support of the Presidents of the countries
members of the peace process, but, above
all, support for the efforts being made by its Government and for the
development plans which it is implementing.
Colombia also received expressions of appreciation and recognition
of its leadership in the region, which will be
reinforced at the Millennium Summit to be convened by the United Nations,
when President Pastrana, on behalf
of the countries members of the Rio Group, makes a formal presentation
to the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan,
and to the President of the General Assembly of the regional consensus
and positions contained in the Cartagena
de Indias Declaration.
