Foreign ministers and representatives of the 20-member Rio Group were last evening in discussions on the Draft Declaration of Turkeyen and the group’s statement on human and social issues ahead of the substantive 19th Summit.
In his remarks at the opening of the Rio Group Foreign Ministers meeting, which got underway during the mid-afternoon yesterday, Chair-man, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rudy Insanally noted that at least one of the items on the Heads of Government Agenda would be how to strengthen the Rio Group at least for the next 20 years.
Stabroek News understands that this recommendation followed a proposal made by the Mexican delegation, which expressed some amount of dissatisfaction at the manner in which the group currently functions. One of the recommendations is that the heads meet biennially instead of annually.
Other areas which he expects would be given more attention are the issue of Haiti and future relations between the European Union and the Rio Group; expected to meet in the Dominican Republic later this year.
The National Coordi-nators’ programme, which the foreign ministers were expected to fine-tune includes the agenda for the plenary session which is also expected to deal with the treatment of asymmetries in the context of regional cooperation, the democratisation of international relations, approval of the draft Declaration of Turkeyen, approval of a Statement on Human and Social Issues, and the handing over of the Chair of the Rio Group to the Dominican Republic.
Insanally acknowledged the work done by the National Coordinators of the Rio Group who met all day yesterday and until 4 pm yesterday hammering out the details of the declaration and other documents contingent on the declaration. Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabeth Harper leads the National Coordinators
The foreign ministers meeting, initially slated for yesterday morning, could not be held until after the National Coordinators meeting.
Noting the role the Rio Group has taken on in the region, Insanally said it was now a well-known fact that international organizations and regional groupings search for opportunities to meet the Rio Group to discuss international relations and other matters.
He said while the group continues its role as a permanent mechanism of political consultation and coordination it was not for the group to implement policies. However, he said it was certainly within its mandate to ensure that the relevant agencies such as the Organisation of American States, the Economic Com-mission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Andean group pursued policy implementation.
He stressed the fact that policy implementation was given very little attention and expressed the hope that based on recommendations put forward by the National Coordinators this would change.
All of the members of the Rio Group would be present at the summit, but with representation at various levels. The members are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic, Ecua-dor, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Para-guay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The summit gets underway at the National Cultural Centre this evening with addresses by Rio Group Summit Chairman President Bharrat Jagdeo and the representative of Argentina, two members of the Troika, to be followed by a cultural presentation and a dinner hosted by President Jagdeo. (Miranda La Rose)