Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Perrmanent Representatives,
Distinguished Permanent Observers,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Genetlemen,

On behalf of the Secretary General and of all Staff Members of the General Secretariat, let me take this opportunity to thank delegations for the decision taken by this Thirty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly on the financing of the Regular Fund of the Program-Budget of the Organization for 2008.

The decision taken today, as reflected in the approved Resolution, was not an easy one. It was the product of many formal and informal discussions beginning last spring, and continuing throughout the summer – first, under the able leadership of then-CAAP Chair, Ambassador Francisco Villagran of Guatemala, and concluded under the equally able leadership of Ambassador Camilo Ospina of Colombia.

Both Chairs as well as Member States delegates to the CAAP fully understood the important issues at stake, as well as the difficult decisions that had to be made. Many compromises had to be reached to achieve this important consensus. In this regard, I wish to particularly acknowledge the efforts of the CAAP delegates who worked diligently throughout the summer months of July and August.

I also wish to thank Ambassador Frank Almaguer and his team for their hard work and dedication in seeing through this process.

As we have said on other occasions, the General Secretariat was given, over the past decade (or longer) a very difficult – some would say impossible – challenge.

Stagnant Regular Fund budgets coincided with the growth in mandates arising from the Summits Process, beginning in 1994. This included a 25% drop in the purchasing power of the annual quotas going back to the mid-90s. This confluence of frozen budgets, reduced staff and an ever-growing list of mandates left the General Secretariat highly vulnerable.

Although we have many challenges, the good news is that this difficult scenario is being turned around, thanks in great measure to the partnership that has evolved between the General Secretariat and Member States.

We are beginning to reverse this downward spiral:

For 2006, the CAAP and the Permanent Council gave the General Secretariat important instruments to strengthen a debilitated infrastructure. These have included:

• Approval of a new organizational structure designed to foster internal controls and accountability, as well as improve the responsiveness of the organization;

• Additional budgetary authority to meet basic needs and adjust the Regular Fund budget ceiling;

• The decision of the Special General Assembly in January 2006 to increase quota contributions for 2007 and raise the budget ceiling for the first time in over a decade;

• Your willingness, at the Panama General Assembly, to vote for a further Regular Fund budget ceiling increase to accommodate automatic cost of living and other statutory adjustments; and

• Your decision (at this Special General Assembly) to approve the necessary means to finance the 2008 budget.

Looking into the future:

We (the General Secretariat and Member States) will need to work together to ensure that the right steps are taken to break once and for all the downward cycle that endured for over a decade and that we have reversed. It is also important for this Organization to be able to go forward with the assurance that Member States and the Secretariat will continue to work together to secure the necessary resources to fulfill the important mandates and responsibilities of the Organization.

Thank you, again, Mr. Chairman. You can be assured that our team is ready to work with you, and eager to make some history with you by being able to report to the Colombia General Assembly next June that we accomplished the directives concerning management mandated by both the Santo Domingo and Panama General Assemblies.


Thank you.