Caracas, 28.  Today, sixty-two year old Otto Boye Soto, of Chile, was elected by acclamation to the post of Permanent Secretary of the Latin American Economic System (SELA)

 

Boye, who is currently Chile’s Ambassador to Venezuela, will be replacing Carlos Juan Moneta, of Argentina, when the latter’s four-year term comes to an end.

Upon presenting Boye’s nomination, the Minister of the Economy of Chile, Jorge Leiva, commented that his government considered that SELA could “contribute significantly” so that Latin America and the Caribbean “act in a joint manner using the best of criteria” to face the fundamental issues of the international economic agenda.

 

He made particular reference to the negotiations that will take place as part of the “round of the millennium” in the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the negotiations for the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the integration processes that are being pursued at the regional level.

 

The Permanent Secretary-elect, who is married and has eight children, has a degree in Law from Universidad Católica de Chile.  He also studied political science at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

 

Boye was elected on the occasion of the XXV Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA, which took place from 26 to 28 October in Caracas, which is the headquarters of this organization that groups 28 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Likewise, the Latin American Council, which is SELA’s highest level decision-making body, approved a decision reiterating its rejection of the Helms-Burton Act and any other measure “aimed at strengthening, broadening and internationalizing” the economic blockade that the United States of America has placed on Cuba for more than three decades.

Moreover, the Council adopted a decision expressing its satisfaction with the transfer of the Panama Canal to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Panama.  In said Decision the Council notes that “this event is of transcendental significance for the international community and particularly for all Latin American and Caribbean States.”

 

The delegates of the Council also approved the work programme that will be developed by the SELA Permanent Secretariat next year, entrusting the Secretariat to further the intensity of its work in the sphere of agricultural trade; emphasize support for analyses of the processes concerned with regional integration, globalization, WTO and FTAA negotiations; prepare analyses and studies in the realm of culture and development; and reinforce studies on social equity and poverty, particularly aiming for the eradication of the latter.