GFDD Travels to Cartagena, Colombia to Participate in Sixth Summit of the Americas

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) attended the Sixth Summit of the Americas, “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity,” in Cartagena, Colombia, celebrated April 14-15, 2012.

The annual Summit organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), convened 34 Heads of State, with the purpose of advancing inter-regional cooperation in four critical areas: infrastructure; poverty and inequality; citizen security; disaster risk
management; and access to technologies.

Regional leaders achieved consensus on the following:

Integration of Physical Infrastructure:

• Prioritize physical infrastructure projects at the national, sub-regional and regional levels, as means of contributing
  to sustainable development, social inclusion and increased trade
• Harmonize regulations to facilitate investment in infrastructure projects

Poverty Inequality and Inequity:

• Develop comprehensive public policies that target early child care, education and development
• Protect children against economic
  exploitation in accordance with the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) and ILO Convention 182 (1999)
• Promote decent and productive work and access to quality education, healthcare and housing
• Ensure access to primary and secondary education for all, and increase access to tertiary and vocational educational
• Promote greater international exchange among students
• Strengthen inter-regional cooperation and human and institutional capacity-building efforts
• Promote creation of micro, small and medium businesses
• Increase investment in research and technological innovation
• Reaffirm commitment to fulfill MDG”s and the Declaration of the Decade of the Americas for the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (2006-2016)
• Promote the rights of older persons and services and programs designed to enhance their well-being
• Develop social policies to enhance the social inclusion of migrants,
  regardless of status, so as to protect human rights
• Prioritize nutrition, particularly for children

Disaster Reduction and Management:

• Prioritize disaster risk management within public policies and development strategies
• Strengthen
  mutual assistance partnerships in the area of risk management
• Increase financing for climate change adaptation
• Promote use of online tools for effective and efficient disaster response

Access to and Use of Information and Communication Technologies

• Increase public and private partnerships to ensure for affordable access to information and communications technologies
• Promote teacher training in information and communication technologies
• Employ information and communication technologies to advance civic engagement and government transparency

Citizen Security and Transnational Organized Crime

• Advance international cooperation to put an end to violence, corruption and organized crime
• Implement policies that target the causes of crime and promote citizen security
• Put in place policies that seek to combat sexual and gender based violence
• Promote citizen and community participation as part of law enforcement strategies
• Improve efforts to combat human
  trafficking

As a regional leader in the areas of economic and social development; information and communication technology; education; defense and security; environment; defense and security and regional integration, GFDD attends high-level meetings to remain current on international development trends and to develop strategic relations with like-minded institutions.

GFDD is an affiliated Civil Society Organization to the Organization of
American States (OAS) and an active supporter of the Inter-American System and Summit of the Americas. Joint programs in the fields of democracy, regional integration, trade, environment, education, culture, drug abuse prevention, as well as internships and professional training opportunities are developed and implemented with different departments and divisions of the OAS.

Related link:
www.summit-americas.org