Leaders of the Americas sign new Declaration

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – HEADS of Government in the Americas made their first step toward re-establishing a spirit of cooperation with the US yesterday (Apr. 19) by signing the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain, which addresses some of the region’s most pressing concerns.

Following last week’s Fifth Summit of the Americas  in Trinidad, the Declaration was adopted by a majority of the region’s leaders as a move to bring into action the Summit’s theme of ‘Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability’.

The Declaration focuses on promoting three fundamental principles: human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability, and recommends a time period in which each goal should be achieved in each country.  

In relation to promoting human prosperity, the Declaration seeks to improve anti-poverty efforts, promote job creation and prevent exploitation of workers. It focuses greatly upon the need to strengthen food security and increase access to healthcare, particularly for the most vulnerable. 

The document makes commitments to strengthen public policies which would reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than 5% by 2015. At the same time, it aims to reduce social inequality and halve extreme poverty by the same year.
Other commitments to advance human prosperity include achieving universal primary education by 2015, a secondary education enrolment rate of 75% by 2010 and a minimum 40% participation in tertiary education by 2020.

Energy security was recognized within the Declaration as “an essential resource for improving the standard of living of our peoples”, and therefore aims to develop cleaner, more affordable and sustainable energy systems were listed as vital. 

“We aim to promote access to energy and energy efficient technologies and practices in all sectors. We will aim to diversify our energy matrices by increasing, where appropriate, the contribution of renewable energy sources, and will encourage the cleaner, more efficient use of fossil fuels and other fuels,” the document states.

The issue of environmental sustainability was also one which garnered much co-operation among the hemispheric leaders. The Declaration paid particular attention to mitigating the effects of climate change while simultaneously encouraging the adaptation to associated changes where necessary.

The document was signed yesterday on behalf of the Caribbean by Trinidad and Tobago’s Hon. Patrick Manning. 
The 22-page document was said to have been negotiated by the various countries over the last seven months and was finally adopted yesterday by consensus. 

According to PM Manning, although the document did not gain unanimous support, signing the Declaration “has turned out to be a signal example of cooperation and collaboration between the countries of the Western Hemisphere”.