Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of the Rio Group and of
the Caribbean extend their vote of solidarity to SELA
Caracas, 11th February. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Rio Group, on the occasion of their meeting in Panama, manifested their "solidarity" with the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American Economic System (SELA)" whose headquarters in Caracas were completely consumed by fire.
The communiqué drafted by the fourteen Ministers of Foreign Affairs "reiterates their recognition of the significance of SELA for the coordination and cooperation among Latin American and Caribbean countries and recommends that the member states convene, in a prompt and timely manner, an extraordinary meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA, to ensure that tne necessary measures are taken to meet the objectives set forth in this Declaration."
This statement was made known at the meeting of Foreign Affairs with their European Union counterparts held on 11 and 12 February.
Likewise, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also extended its full support to SELA at its meeting held on 9 and 10 February in the Bahamas. While attending the meeting with the Rio Group in Panama, the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Carlos Moneta, was invited to provide information on the situation currently facing that organization, whose installations were destroyed by a fire that took place on Thursday, 5 February, and which started again in the early morning hours of Friday, 6 February.
The Ministers, after voicing their "deepest regrets in connection with this unfortunate incident" manifested their "willingness to provide support within their means to contribute to ensuring the continuity of the work carried forth by the Permanent Secretariat and to comply with the important objectives of its Work Programme."
SELA, founded in 1975, is an international organization that groups 27 Latin American and Caribbean countries and works to forge joint positions for the region vis-à-vis the rest of the globe and to promote cooperation among its Member States.
The functions carried forth by SELA engulf providing technical assistance to the Rio Group, which includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and a representative of Central America and a representative of the Caribbean.
Moreover, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed their willingness "to fully cooperate with SELA to ensure the recovery of its documentary and informative history which the fire consumed."
The declaration emitted by the Rio Group joins in with the support already manifested by the 27 SELA Member States. The Government of Venezuela, in quality of host country, has taken great interest in speeding up the process of finding a new location in which to set up the organization´s headquarters.
Ambassador Moneta pointed out that the cause of the fire had not yet been determined but that its origin had been established four floors below that of SELA headquarters. Investigations by the fire department and police authorities continue in this respect.
The inconveniences caused by this mishap have not brought the SELA Permanent Secretariat to a halt. Despite the loss of its headquarters, work and the activities of the Secretariat have continued. Today, for example, the document entitled "U.S. Options for the Free Trade Area of the Americas" was concluded and final arrangements are being made for the upcoming meeting in Caracas on Competition Policies, which will be held with the support of the International Cooperation Agency of Spain (AECI).
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