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Appendix A: List of Participants MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FIPA President Deputy Luiz Carlos Hauly (BRAZIL) North America James Bezan, MP (CANADA/host country of the Sixth Plenary Meeting) Senator Ricardo García Cervantes (MEXICO) South America Deputy Iván Moreira Barros (CHILE) Caribbean Stanford Callender, Member of Parliament (TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO) Former President Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette (CANADA) OTHER GUESTS Representative Gregory Meeks (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) Leif-Erik Aune (Parliament of Canada) Karla Mendoza Alcántara (Senate of Mexico) Elizabeth Rody (Parliament of Canada) Pablo Serrano (Senate of Mexico) John Wood (Parliamentary Centre, Canada) FIPA TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT Cora Capurro (Communications and Public Relations Officer) Emmanuelle Pelletier (Executive Secretary) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT Deputy María Estela de la Cruz (Representative of Central America, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) Senator Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez (Representative of South America, COLOMBIA) Senator Cecilia López (Chair of the Group of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas, COLOMBIA) Senator Ann Peters (Representative of the Caribbean, GRENADA) Guatemala: Vacant Appendix B: Report of the Meeting with the OAS held on June 23, 2009 The FIPA Executive Committee participated in a meeting with OAS officials on June 23, 2009 at OAS headquarters. The meeting was attended by the OAS Secretary for External Relations, Adam Blackwell, Jane Thery, officer in charge of legislative relations at the Secretariat for External Affairs, and Maria Fernanda Trigo and Ruben Perina of the Secretariat for Political Affairs. Adam Blackwell started the meeting by providing FIPA Representatives an overview of the OAS work, which he described as including four pillars: (1) the political dialogue, which takes place not only at the Permanent Council but also through summits of the Americas and related ministerial meetings; (2) the establishment of hemispheric standards, in areas such as trade, education, electoral processes, civil registries and human rights; (3) the effort made in “minimizing gaps” through capacity-building programs, scholarships and other cooperation programs, and; (4) the administration of the OAS structure, including the management of the Secretary General office and the coordination of twelve hemispheric organizations. Ms. Thery and Mr. Perina provided further details on the work already undertaken by the OAS with legislatures (for example with the Forum of Speakers of Central American Parliaments), which focuses on the one hand on modernizing legislative institutions and on the other, on developing parliamentary cooperation. In the discussion that followed, FIPA representatives stressed the importance that legislatures be part of this OAS effort, should it be in furthering political dialogue or in building hemispheric standards through legislation. The Secretary for External Affairs proposed to proceed with the signature of a general cooperation agreement in order to formalize the relation between the OAS and FIPA. In reference to FIPA’s request for a special status to the OAS, Ambassador Blackwell explained that existing rules gave the host country of the General Assembly the authority to manage invitations, thus making clear that the signature of an agreement would not mean an automatic invitation to OAS activities. Executive Committee members welcomed the proposal of signing a cooperation agreement with the OAS and requested the FIPA Technical Secretariat to work on a draft agreement along with the OAS Secretariat for External Affairs.
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