SELA to design scheme for Latin American and Caribbean
integration
By Betsy Santistevan, El Globo, Venezuela
Guarnieri announces
restructuring of the organisation 29 years after its creation
Caracas, 13 December 2004- The Permanent Secretary of SELA, Roberto Guarnieri,
said that the work programme of the organisation "should inject some added value into
our knowledge of the issue of integration, produce recommendations in order to overcome
obstacles, and ensure the conduction of evaluations that delve into the very roots of the
problems. That is the SELA that I want to see".
The Latin American Economic System (SELA) was created on 17 October 1975 through the
Panama Convention. It was conceived as a regional inter-governmental organisation which
comprises 27 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Nevertheless, after 29 years, the Venezuelan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arévalo
Méndez, pointed to the need to restructure the organisation to transform it into a centre
to promote initiatives and solutions to the problems posed by the integration processes
underway in Latin America and the Caribbean - such as the South American Community of
Nations, which was recently created in Cuzco, Peru.
Roberto Guarnieri, Permanent Secretary of the Latin American Economic System (SELA), said
that this process to restructure the institution he represents has received the political
support of the Member States.
Renewed will
His comments were based on Decision 467, which was included in the final report of the XXX
Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council and reads as follows:
"The Latin American Council decides to renew our explicit political will in support
of SELA, (and) to instruct the Permanent Secretariat to design mechanisms to make this
renewal of our common political will operational."
Reaffirming the views expressed by Vice Minister Méndez, the Permanent Secretary said:
"The vision I have for SELA is to transform it into an organisation that is
equivalent to the Commission that paved the way for the creation of the European Union;
that is, the body that should provide the administrative and executive scheme for the
Latin American and Caribbean Union".
"Thus, I consider that the work programme of SELA should inject some added value into
our knowledge of the issue of integration, produce recommendations in order to overcome
obstacles, and ensure the conduction of evaluations that delve into the very roots of the
problems. That is the SELA that I want to see", he added.
Performance with excellence
- How will that restructuring process be?
- I told the Latin American Council that I intend to heighten SELA's potential. With this,
I recognise that SELA has not fully - and not even to a large extent - developed its
potential, as it was set forth in the Panama Convention.
- And the process to relaunch SELA, what is it about?
- The relaunching involves achieving some basic conditions for the Permanent Secretariat.
The work of the Permanent Secretariat has to be qualified as excellent from every point of
view, including its operational performance, the political context of its proposals, its
conceptual basis and its capacity to make valid and relevant proposals, which go beyond
presenting variations or repetitions of old proposals, as has traditionally been the case.
In time, I see SELA turning itself into the interlocutor of Latin America and the
Caribbean vis-à-vis other international organisations that are involved in these
processes: the European Union, Asia and the Pacific, some governments and other
institutions.
This process to relaunch and strengthen SELA will be carried out with a view to holding
the next Latin American Council of SELA in Panama, on 17 October 2005, and celebrating the
30th Anniversary of the Panama Convention.
Financial normalisation
- In spite of the political support there is a lack of economic support to the
organisation. Are some Member States, such as Brazil, in arrears with their quota payments
to SELA?
- At the recently-held Latin American Council of SELA, I put forward a proposal for
financial normalisation. There's no doubt that it is not possible to conduct systematic
and effective activities - I mean, without interruptions - if there is no certainty that
expenses will be covered on time.
The proposal foresees the payment of up to 25%, or one-fourth, of the outstanding quotas.
This would provide us with a total amount of US$ 2.5 million. This proposal has three
objectives:
First of all, to normalise the financial situation of the Permanent Secretariat of SELA,
characterised by pending payments and liabilities with a large number of service providers
and even banks.
Second, to execute a Special Budget in order to renew the Secretariat's computer platform,
to set up a really useful documentation centre, and to acquire audiovisual equipment as
well as communication and knowledge transfer tools. All these plans are behind schedule
due to the serious financial situation faced by the organisation.
And third, I mentioned the need to establish a Special Budget Fund; that is, a fund for
financial emergencies. Thus, once the future annual budgets are approved, the resources
deposited in that fund could be used in case future annual quota contributions are not
received on time.
- Does it involve an additional disbursement on the part of the countries?
- No. All these things would be done by using that 25% of the outstanding quotas.
In addition, the Latin American Council approved SELA's budget for the year 2005, which
amounts to US$ 2.2 million, broken down as follows:
Latin American Council: US$ 30,000, and Permanent Secretariat: US$ 2.17 million. Expenses
of the Permanent Secretariat include the following: international staff: US$ 675,363;
local staff: US$ 670,326; consultants, meetings and services by contract: US$ 520,000;
official travels: US$ 80,000, and general administrative expenses: US$ 224,311
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