February 13th, 2015 -- Representatives of the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) began today, in a preparatory meeting at the headquarters of the institution in Washington DC, to finalize the details of the upcoming meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Science and Technology of the Americas, which will take place in Guatemala City on March 10 and 11.
The objective of the meeting is to analyze the main issues of the ministerial meeting, whose central theme will be: “Inclusive Innovation: Key to Reducing Inequality and Increasing Productivity in the Region.” Moreover, the delegates will debate the Plan of Action of Guatemala 2016-2020, and the recommendations for the Seventh Summit of the Americas, which will take place in Panama in April.
The document on the Plan of Action being debated by the member countries continues and deepens the objectives and the work carried out in the framework of the Plan of Action of Panama 2012-2016, approved at the III Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Science and Technology in Panama in 2011. The proposal ratifies the structure, composition, and methodology of the four pillars identified in the Plan of Action of Panama: Innovation, Education and Human Resource Development, Quality National Infrastructure, and Technological Development, as well as their corresponding Working Groups.
The meeting also proposes the inclusion of a series of cross-cutting issues such as inclusive innovation, the participation and leadership of women, and collaboration with the private sector, academia, and other strategic partners.
During the inaugural session of the meeting, the Executive Secretary for Integral Development (SEDI) of the OAS, Sherry Tross, recalled that there is a consensus in the region that innovation and technology are fundamental elements for integral development, prosperity and social inclusion in the Hemisphere.
Executive Secretary Tross said that, to the degree to which the countries seek to further enhance competition and open the door to opportunity for all citizens, “innovation and technology can be powerful tools to promote social inclusion when combined with quality education and a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem.” She also highlighted the work carried out during the last three years by the four Working Groups in the Inter-American Committee of Science and Technology (COMCYT), and signaled her agreement with the realignment of the objectives and works of the OAS in the Strategic Vision, which in the area of integral development, “is seeking to generate synergies and coordination of efforts with regional and multilateral development partners.”
For her part, the current Chair of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) and the Permanent Council, and the Permanent Representative of Suriname to the OAS, Niermala Badrising, recalled that during the Eighth Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education, which took place in Panama last week, the resolution “Building an Inter-American Education Agenda: Education with Equity for Prosperity,” which contains two key transversal elements: “The promotion of the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the primary and secondary levels;¨ and “the use of information and communication technologies in the teaching and learning process.”
Ambassador Badrising also highlighted that the central theme of the IV Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Science and Technology takes into account the promotion of “use of innovation and technology to connect communities with less opportunities in rural and remote areas to ensure that they can have access to the benefits of innovation and technology.”
For his part, the Minister of the National Secretariat of Science and Technology of Guatemala and Chair of COMCYT, Armando Pokus, said the theme of science, technology and innovation is key for the economic and social development of his country, Guatemala, as well as for the Central American region, and for the entire Hemisphere.
Minister Pokus said that when a country like Guatemala is going through a process of fighting poverty and inequality, as is happening in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, “the definition of priorities and attention to the most urgent social issues are without a doubt key to social cohesion and the functioning of institutions. It is in this context that investment in innovation and technology is most valuable.”
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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