September 14,  2001

OAS PERMANENT COUNCIL CONVENES SPECIAL SESSION

The Organization of American States will meet in a special session in Washington on Wednesday, September 19 to consider hemispheric action in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11.

In Lima, Peru, barely three hours after the attacks, a special OAS General Assembly of hemispheric Foreign Ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist acts visited upon the cities of New York and Washington, D.C.

The Assembly “pledged its utmost solidarity with the government of President George W. Bush and the people of the United States” and reiterated the need to strengthen hemispheric cooperation to “combat this scourge that has thrown the world and the hemispheric community into mourning.”

The special meeting in Washington will hear the latest findings of the United States Government, consider steps to help bring the perpetrators to justice, and explore mechanisms to coordinate the hemispheric war on terrorism. Virtually every country in the hemisphere suffered losses in these attacks.

The meeting will be open to the media, and will be webcast at www.oas.org.

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