Debriefing session for the civil society on the Special Summit of the Americas

Summary: On Friday, January 16, 2004, Marc Lortie, Assistant Deputy Minister (Americas), held a debriefing on the Summit of the Americas held in Monterrey January 12 and 13, 2004, for a group of over 30 representatives from the civil society.

After Marc Lortie reviewed the Declaration of Nuevo León and the main results of the Summit, questions from representatives of the civil society were divided into the three main themes of the Summit: economic growth with equity to reduce poverty, social development and democratic governance.

Economic growth with equity to reduce poverty: topics of participant inquiry included the status of the trade negotiations with Mercosur and respect for intellectual property of traditional indigenous knowledge. Mr. Lortie confirmed that while awaiting the conclusion of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) negotiations, Canada would pursue bilateral negotiations to conclude trade agreements with four countries of Central America, and exploratory discussions with CARICOM and Andean community countries. Canada has responded favourably to written requests from Mercosur to hold bilateral market access discussions in the context of the FTAA, but such discussions should only occur once the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee has agreed on a framework for the negotiations consistent with Ministers' instructions from Miami.

Social development: the issue of non-compliance with respect to women's working conditions in the region was raised in reference to the problem of the maquiladoras in Mexico. Mr. Lortie stressed that the message from Monterrey on this issue was one of respect for the rights of workers and women, a paragraph of the Declaration reiterating the importance of equal participation by women in the region's development. The possibility of holding a Second Indigenous People's Summit before the next Summit of the Americas, which will take place in 2005 in Argentina, was also mentioned. The location of the second summit has still not been determined and will be the topic of further consultations between the governments and indigenous organizations concerned. One of the representatives of the civil society voiced concern that certain international organizations held teachers responsible for shortcomings in the education system. Mr. Lortie pointed out that the Nuevo León Declaration did not blame the teachers, quite the contrary, and that the Inter-American Development Bank had committed to ensuring that the teachers had access to the resources necessary for them to carry out their duties.

Democratic governance: one of the participants was concerned about the limited scope of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. Mr. Lortie pointed out that CIDA had contributed new funding to the Follow-up Mechanism. The States Parties to the Convention will be meeting in Nicaragua in the coming months to set out recommendations for strengthening this mechanism. Two participants from the academic community were also interested in the democratic situation in the Americas, asking about the measures adopted by Canada to support the democratic process in Haiti, and indicating their concern over the lack of attention received by the Inter-American Democratic Charter in countries such as Haiti, Bolivia and Venezuela, where democracy is compromised. Mr. Lortie pointed out that Canada would be present at the CARICOM leaders' meeting (Nassau, Bahamas, January 20- 21, 2004) with leaders from the Haitian opposition. Last, he indicated that these national crises were the reason for holding the Special Summit, and that the Charter still enjoyed the undisputed support of the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, most of whom referred to it during their interventions in Monterrey.