JANUARY 23rd, 2015 -- The member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) concluded this Wednesday a meeting at the headquarters of the Organization in Washington DC in which they finalized the details and preparations for the meeting of Ministers of Education of the Americas, which will take place in Panama on February 4 and 5.
In her words during the closing of the meeting, the Minister of Education of Panama and Chair of the Inter-American Committee on Education (CIE, for its initials in Spanish), Marcela Paredes de Vásquez, said the meeting in her country will represent “an opportunity for an exchange of ideas, of cooperation mechanisms, of best practices and of proposals to build an American agenda in the field of education to bring together the efforts of our regions, subregions and countries. It is an opportunity to establish an agenda on those very concrete points of horizontal cooperation and proposals for hemispheric projects,” said the Minister.
Moreover, Minister Paredes de Vásquez reiterated her hope, expressed during the opening of the meeting on Tuesday that “this Ministerial meeting will constitute a milestone in the determination of our countries to deepen the articulation of efforts and reach the potential of intersectoral cooperation, which promotes the achievement of development with prosperity, but above all with equity and social justice.”
According to that presented during the meeting, held under the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), the Panamanian government defined an agenda for the February meeting based on the principles of multiculturalism, and intersectoral collaboration. The proposed interaction for the meeting of Ministers of Education seeks to include and involve other sectors, such as those responsible for public health and labor. In addition, another objective of the meeting will seek to revitalize the political dialogue between member states in this field and promote innovative cooperation mechanisms that contribute to strengthening the capacity of countries to meet their educational realities. The Panamanian proposal continued the line established by Suriname during its presidency of the CIE between March 2012 and October 2014.
The importance of the ministerial meeting that will take place in Panama is accentuated by the fact that it will be held prior to the Seventh Summit of the Americas, to take place on April 10 and 11, which will allow for the discussion and support of the Inter-American Educational Agenda by the Heads of State and Government at the Summit.
Upon opening the preparatory meeting this Tuesday, the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin, highlighted that “this meeting is being held at a key moment in the global discussion on education, in which focus is being placed on the necessary interrelationship between education, equality, and social inclusion.” In addition, Ambassador Ramdin said the meeting comes “at a key moment for the OAS, in which the member states recently agreed to reform its strategic objectives, contributing to an improved articulation of the work of the distinct areas of the Organization, and in particular those included in the area of integral development.” In this context, the Assistant Secretary General urged representatives to “take up and frame the political dialogue on education from a perspective of integral development, in order to connect education with the challenges, issues and opportunities that our countries face in terms of development.”
During the same opening session, the Chair of CIDI and the Permanent Council and Representative of Suriname to the Organization, Niermala Badrising, said the dialogues that have taken place since the beginning of the process of preparation for the ministerial meeting “reflect that education continues to be conceived by our member states as fundamental in advancing toward integral development.” Moreover she expressed her conviction that the results of the meeting “will help us to work toward a more comprehensive process of dialogue that responds more effectively to the educational needs of our region to provide our young people with opportunities for quality education.”
The Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Sherry Tross, highlighted that the theme of the ministerial meeting, “Building an Inter-American Agenda of Education, “ is very much aligned with the focus of the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Panama – ‘Prosperity with Equity: The Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas.’” For the OAS official, “it is impossible to speak seriously about Prosperity with Equity in the Americas without addressing quality education as well as capacity building. These are cornerstones for development and must be essential areas of focus as our countries seek to better respond to structural shifts in the global demand for talent and labor as well as the pressing challenge of inequality.”
A gallery of photos of the event is available here.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
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