Ambassador John Maisto with U.S. Chargé D'Affaires James Nealon, during press availability in Montevideo, May 18, 2006.

Ambassador John Maisto, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization of American States (OAS), visited Uruguay during an official tour of the countries of the Southern Cone.

In a press availability session held in Montevideo on Thursday, May 18, Maisto stated that the object of his visit was to meet with Uruguayan officials to review the agenda of the next OAS Annual Assembly, where the Foreign Ministers of the Americas will meet to discuss issues relating to governability and the development in the knowledge-based society, and “to talk about the challenges that currenty exist in the Hemisphere." He added that the OAS General Assembly will take place two weeks from now in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, “it is the annual meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the nations of the Western Hemisphere.”

Eaerlier, ambassador Maisto met with the President of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, and with Foreign Affairs minister Reinaldo Gargano. "We also talked about the state of bi-lateral relations between the United States and Uruguay, particularly after the successful visit of the President to the United States,” Maisto said.

With regards to the dispute between Argentina and Uruguay over the construction in Uruguay of two new pulp mills by European companies, Maisto indicated that “the situation is well known throughout the continent, there was a presentation of the points of view of each country at the OAS headquarters a few days ago. It is our hope, and of the United States as well, that both of these allied nations can reach and agreement over this situation. This is what all the OAS members want as well."

The theme of this year's General Assembly in the Dominican Republic is good governance and development of the knowledge-based society. This has to do with information technology and how it can be applied to the goals of cooperation and development in order to modernize systems of democratic governance, said Maisto.

“The Internet, for instance, can be utilized to give transparency to the work of governments", thus contributing to freedom of information, it can expedite , it can help the bidding system and the follow up of government contracts. In many countries, the Web and cell phones have revolutionized communications and have had effect on our modern democratic way of life.

En ese sentido, manifestó que "todos nuestros países tienen Gobernantes electos democráticamente por el pueblo, el gran reto de nuestro tiempo es que se tiene que gobernar democráticamente; pero también existe en nuestro hemisferio el gran problema de la pobreza, y debemos crear fuentes de trabajo en pos de mejorar esa situación económica".

With this in mind, Maisto said that in the Western Hemisphere, "every country has a democratically elected government -except one, the dictatorship that exists in Cuba". In this regard, the big challenge of our time, is for elected leaders "to govern democratically". However, Maisto added, there also exists in our Hemisphere the great problem of poverty. "40% of the inhabitants of this continent are considered poor", therefore another challenge for the OAS is what we must do collectivelly to improve the economies and create jobs.

Maisto explained that "the OAS does not have unlimited funds, it is not a bank [...], it is a political entity that can develop policies to speed up growth and the attention paid to social problems by means of a broad range of different programs and activities."

According to Maisto, how to bring the benefits of democracy to the people is for the OAS a major challenge, “we understand that these benefits include equality of opportunity to educate one’s children, to have access to healthcare and opportunities in society, that the rules of the game should not exclusionary. Social inclusion is the major goal of the Andean countries, the goal is to have social mobility when people, by means of education, can improve their standards of living.” He indicated that “this requires credible judicial systems, freedom of information and an infrastructure of democratic systems. There must exist social and economic equality of opportunity and no discrimination for any reason combined with an environment that enables people to have life with dignity."

 
###