Organization of American States Summits of the Americas
 
Follow-up and Implementation: Mandates
 

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SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH: Social Equity and Inclusion
MANDATES

  1. Address, with solidarity and equity, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in all its stages, through the aforementioned Action Plan, in accordance with national contexts, needs, and priorities with the aim of assessing and strengthening the capacity and resilience of health systems and health value chains at the national and regional levels, placing individuals at the core of health and resilience policies, the integration of the delivery of health services, including physical and mental health services, accounting for the amplified impact on and unique needs of members of groups that have been historically marginalized, discriminated against, and/or in vulnerable situations, as well as all women and girls, taking into account their diverse conditions and situations, in a manner consistent with national legislation and international law, promoting the implementation of universal health coverage for all, without discrimination, to further the wellbeing of current and future generations. (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. Address the wider economic, social, and environmental dimensions of resilience, including challenges resulting from COVID-19 and constraints to sustainable post-pandemic recovery, including limited fiscal space; unsustainable debt-burdens, where applicable; lack of access to financing; challenges to food and nutrition security; and limited capacity to mitigate and adapt to the challenges of the climate crisis. (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. To promote economic growth with equity and social inclusion by strengthening cooperatives, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, including cultural industries, in addition to grassroots economic initiatives and other production units, innovation, and competitiveness in the countries of the Americas. (Poverty, Inequality, and Inequity, Cartagena, 2012).

  1. To reduce poverty and hunger, eradicate extreme poverty, create dignified and decent work, and raise the standard of living of all our people, we must achieve higher levels of business development and sustainable economic growth with equity. Subject to the domestic laws of each country, we will continue to promote diversified economic activity in the energy, transport, tourism, communications, services, financial services and agricultural sectors. We are committed to facilitating investment and public-private partnerships in infrastructure and other relevant sectors in order to promote business development, economic growth and social development with equity. We will continue to promote increased corporate social responsibility and improved competitiveness, to which the Americas Competitiveness Forum in Chile in 2009 will contribute. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).

  1. We recognise that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises constitute a strategic force to generate new employment, improve the quality of life, and have a positive impact on development and economic growth while promoting equity and social inclusion. We also recognise the contribution to the economy and to the creation of decent work by productive organisations, in accordance with each nation’s characteristics, such as cooperatives and other production units. In this context, we call on international and regional financial institutions, as appropriate, to increase their efforts to promote our economies’ development and growth by increasing lending and significantly expanding access to credit by 2012. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).

  1. In search of sustained, long-term, and equitable economic growth that creates jobs, reduces poverty, eliminates hunger, and raises the standard of living, including for the most vulnerable sectors and social groups, and in the framework of national strategies, we are committed to continuing the implementation of sound macroeconomic policies geared toward maintaining high growth rates, full employment, prudent fiscal and monetary policies, appropriate exchange rate policies, sound public debt management policies, and working to diversify economic activity and improve competitiveness. At the same time, we will stimulate income growth and better income distribution, increasing productivity, and protecting workers’ rights and the environment. We recognize that the appropriate role of government in market oriented economies will vary from country to country (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We recognize that economic growth is a basic, indispensable, but not sufficient, condition to address the high rates of unemployment, poverty, and growth of the informal economy. We recognize that only countries that have had years of sustained economic growth have successfully reduced poverty. However, in the recent past some countries of the Hemisphere have experienced periods of economic growth that did not translate into equivalent employment gains, compounding existing problems of high income concentration, poverty, and indigence. The challenge is to sustain higher rates of growth with equity and social inclusion, and to generate expanded opportunities, social investment, and social development. Good economic policies and a favorable international commercial and economic framework are factors that have helped the region achieve, in 2004, rising incomes and the fastest growth rates in a quarter century, which boosted job creation (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. Sustained economic growth, with equity and social inclusion, is an indispensable condition to create jobs, fight extreme poverty, and overcome inequality in the Hemisphere. To achieve these ends, it is necessary to improve transparency and the investment climate in our countries, build human capital, encourage increased incomes and improve their distribution, promote corporate social responsibility, and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship as well as strong business activity (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We offer our encouragement to the OAS in drafting the Social Charter of the Americas and its Plan of Action, whose principles and objectives will be directed towards the achievement by member states of societies that offer all of our citizens more opportunities to benefit from sustainable development with equity and social inclusion (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas, who include fourteen new leaders who have taken office since the Third Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, Canada, have gathered together for a Special Summit in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Our purpose is to advance implementation of measures to combat poverty, to promote social development, to achieve economic growth with equity, and to strengthen governance in our democracies. With a renewed and strengthened vision of cooperation, solidarity, and integration, we will confront the continuing and growing challenges in the Hemisphere (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. Guided by the need to work together to stimulate prosperity, promote social inclusion and a more equitable distribution of economic growth, eliminate hunger, raise living standards, generate new employment and investment opportunities, and promote decent work as well as confront the new threats to security, such as terrorism, organized crime, and illicit trafficking in arms, we reaffirm our commitment to the Inter-American Democratic Charter and we reiterate our firm intention to continue implementing the mandates of the Summits of the Americas, as well as the commitments made at the Millennium Summit, the International Conference on Financing for Development (the Monterrey Consensus) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. We affirm that the well-being of our people requires the achievement of three closely linked and interdependent objectives: economic growth with equity to reduce poverty, social development, and democratic governance (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. We are aware that the information revolution brings new opportunities for increasing access to knowledge for development, and for enhancing equitable citizen participation in the sustainable development of our societies, particularly in rural, remote, and marginalized areas. In an endeavor to close the digital divide, both within and between our countries, we are committed to the Declaration of Principles of the World Summit on the Information Society, and the continued implementation of the Agenda for Connectivity in the Americas and Plan of Action of Quito. We therefore reaffirm our commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented information society, inspired by objectives of social inclusion, poverty reduction, and progress in the framework of balanced economic and social development. (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. Recognizing that economic growth is fundamental to overcoming economic disparities and strengthening democracy in the Hemisphere, and that in order to achieve sustained economic growth and political and social stability, it is necessary to face the primary challenge that confronts the Hemisphere - the eradication of poverty and inequity - that requires an integrated and focused approach, which promotes better competitiveness, equity enhancing trade and more equitable access to opportunities, taking into account the difficulties that the countries of the region face, including those under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, in obtaining financing for their development; and that it is necessary to take measures at the national and hemispheric levels in order to create a positive environment for business, maximize the benefits of orderly migration, minimize the effects of economic volatility and natural disasters and encourage social stability and mobility in order to promote a more equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth: (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. The alleviation of poverty is an integral part of sustainable development. The benefits of prosperity will only be attained through policies that address the interrelationship between human beings and nature. In developing policies and programs for sustainable development, special attention should be given to the needs of indigenous people, minority communities, women, youth, and children and to facilitating their full participation in the development process. The living conditions of persons with disabilities and the elderly also merit special attention (Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

  • I. Introduction We, the elected Heads of States and Governments of the Americas, convinced of the urgent need to advance toward sustainable development by strengthening social awareness, with a broad vision that promotes public participation, integration, hemispheric cooperation, equity, and social justice, with special emphasis on women, children, and vulnerable groups, commit ourselves to implement the first Plan of Action for the Sustainable Development of the Americas, based on the principles of the Declaración de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, for the purpose of overcoming the most pressing problems faced by our people and assuring an adequate and decent standard of living for present and future generations.(Plan of Action Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

  • II.1 Health and Education Recognizing that the primary challenges to the attainment of sustainable development in this area include:

    • Development of a public awareness of economic, social, and environmental concerns, in order to open pathways for the transition of our societies to sustainable development;

    • Equitable access to health services and improvement of their quality in accordance with the principles and priorities laid down in the Pan American Charter: Health and Environment in Sustainable Human Development, taking into account diseases related to environmental deterioration;

    • Reduction of negative environmental effects on health, particularly those relating to mortality and morbidity among the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children;

    • Increased access to education and improvement of its quality, with special attention to vulnerable groups such as women, girls, and children, in order to assure the training that is necessary for sustainable development;

    • Strengthening of appropriate regional cooperation in the promotion of formal and non-formal sustainable development education and of communication to enhance their impact; and

    • Establishment and/or strengthening of disease outbreak response and disaster preparedness, as well as disaster management institutions and their policies and response capabilities, (Plan of Action Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

 

 

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