Inauguration of the XXXI Meeting of SELA’s Latin American Council

Caracas, November 21 2005 – The technical phase of the XXXI Regular Meeting of the Latin American Economic System (SELA) was opened today in Caracas with the participation of Representatives of the organization’s Member States.

Ambassador Roberto Guarnieri, Permanent Secretary of SELA, together with the Ambassador from Costa Rica, Walter Rubén Hernandez, welcomed the representatives of SELA’s Member States. Ambassador Hernandez was elected Chairman of the Latin American Council for the second consecutive year, and he will preside over the debates of the meeting.

The Ministerial stage of the Council will be officially inaugurated tomorrow at 5:00 in the afternoon with the participation from SELA’s Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Roberto Guarnieri; the Chairman of the Latin American Council, Ambassador Walter Rubén Hernandez, and Gustavo Márquez, Minister of State for Integration and Foreign Trade from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Jorge Giordani, Minister of Planning and Development of Venezuela is also expected to be present at this event.

This meeting is highly relevant because 2005 marks the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of the organization. SELA was founded on 17 October 1975, at the initiative of Venezuela and Mexico, with the aim of coordinating common positions among Member States and promoting cooperation and social and economic development within the region.

The Ministerial stage will include a Special Session commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Panama Convention.

The meeting will analyze some of the main topics of the Permanent Secretariat’s Work Program that outlines the new orientation and projection of SELA. These are based on a deep restructuring that will render the organization more useful and relevant for all its Member States.

The Latin American Council, which meets annually and is the highest instance of political decisions of SELA, will examine the performance of the institution in the year 2005 and will approve the work program for 2006, as well as the budget required for its implementation.

The Permanent Secretariat shall submit the 2006 Draft Work Program to the consideration of the Latin American Council. The program includes three areas: intra-regional relations, economic and technical cooperation, and extra-regional relations, as well as projects and activities proposed in each one of these areas.

The meeting will also discuss a proposal submitted by the Permanent Secretariat, which is the technical-administrative instance of SELA, to the representatives of the Member States for clearing up the financial situation and restructuring the organization with the purpose of consolidating it as the institution that shall become the leader of the Latin American and Caribbean integration process.

According to the decision made in the XXX Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council, held in November 2004, the Council will consider the legal study carried out by the Permanent Secretariat, on the change of the name Latin American Economic System for Latin American and Caribbean Economic System.

The SELA, whose bylaws and objectives were established by the Panama Convention, is the only authentically regional forum, because it is the only organization that gathers all Latin American and Caribbean countries to the South of the Rio Grande. At present it is made up by 26 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

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