Secretariat for External Relations
Department of International Affairs
XVI OAS POLICY ROUNDTABLE
“Post-Summit Briefïng: A New Beginning in Inter-American Relations?”
Assessment of the V Summit of the Americas
and the Future of Inter-American Relations
Friday, May 1, 2009
10:00 am -12:00 pm
Hall of the Americas
17th Street and Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC20006
Program
10:00 am.Welcome by Irene Klinger, Director of the Department of International Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS).
10:05 am.First Discussion Panel:
José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General, Organization of American States
Amb. Jeffrey Davidow, White House Advisor for the Summit of the Americas
Amb. Glenda Morean-Phillip, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the OAS
Marcelo Varela, Associate Director for the Americas Program, Carter Center
Moderated by: Irene Klinger, Director of the Department of International Affairs of the OAS
11:05 am. Second Discussion Panel:
Amb. Francisco Villagránde León, Ambassador of Guatemala to the United States
Eliot L. Engel,US Representative for New York's 17th District, Democrat.
Amb. Camilo Ospina, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United States
Amb. Enrique de Obarrio, Vice-President
of Private Sector of the Americas
Moderated by: Amb. Albert R. Ramdin, OAS Assistant Secretary General
12:00 pm. End of session.
- Interpretation in English and Spanish will be available -
Biographies of Panelists
José Miguel Insulza was elected OAS Secretary General on May 2, 2005, and took office on May 26 of that year. He has a law degree from the University of Chile, did postgraduate studies at the Latin American Social Sciences Faculty, and has a master’s in political science from the University of Michigan. He also servedas Political Advisor to the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Chile.
Insulza played an active role in Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government and, following the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet into power, he went into exile for 15 years, in Rome and in Mexico where he was a researcher and then Director of the United States Studies Institute in the Center for Economic Research and Teaching. He also taught at Mexico’s NationalAutonomousUniversity, the Ibero-AmericanUniversity, and the Diplomatic Studies Institute.
Upon his return to Chile, Insulza joined the Coalition of Parties for Democracy. In March 1994, he served as Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs and in September of that year was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1999, he became Minister Secretary General of the Presidency, and the following year he became Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the Republic of Chile, becoming the longest continuously serving minister in Chilean history.
Ambassador Jeffrey Davidowassumed the presidency of the Institute of the Americas on June 1, 2003, after a 34-year career with the State Department. During his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Davidow focused his efforts on improving relations between the United States and Latin America. As early as 1979, while he wasserving as a congressional staff aide, he organized the first congressional hearings to explore the feasibility of a North America free trade zone.
He then held senior positions in U.S. embassies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Guatemala and Chile, was appointed ambassador to Venezuela in 1993 and in 1996 was named Assistant Secretary of State, acting as the State Department's chief policy maker for the hemisphere. He served as Ambassador to Mexico for four years after which he went to HarvardUniversity as a Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the DavidRockefellerCenter for Latin American Studies.
Amb. Davidow is the author of two books: “A Peace in Southern Africa: The Lancaster Conference on Rhodesia,” and, “The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine.”
Ambassador Glenda Patricia Morean-Phillip has the distinction of being the first Trinidad-born woman in her country to qualify as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of her country. She engaged in active private practice as head of her law firm up to 2001. During the period 1989-1991, she again accomplished another milestone by being the first female to be nominated to the position of President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago. Mrs. Morean-Phillip acted as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago from 1999 to 2000. She has been actively involved in public service and community development activities and was appointed as a Member of the Senate of Trinidad and Tobago in 2001 before achieving yet another milestone for women in her country by being the longest-serving female Attorney General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
She was appointed President of the Women in Diplomatic Service – a London based group of senior female diplomats accredited to the Court of St. James’s and became Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to the United States of America and Mexico and Permanent Representative to the OAS on April 21st, 2008.
Marcelo Varela-Erasheva assists with strategic direction, policy formation, development strategy, and management of the Americas Program at the CarterCenter.
Prior to that, he served as advisor and international cooperation project manager to electoral management bodies of Latin America and several international organizations and civil societyorganizations such as the UNDP, UNDESA, OAS, IADB, International IDEA, OSI, and the World Bank.
He is experienced in designing, coordinating, and managing international cooperation programs on democratization, development, national dialogue initiatives, human rights, electoral processes, civil society, police, and military.
Mr. Varela-Erasheva holds a masters degree in European – Latin American relations from the University of Bradford, England. He also holds an MBA from the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain and the Universidad Interamericana in Costa Rica.
Ambassador Francisco Villagrán de León is a career diplomat with more than 25 years in the Guatemalan foreign service, serving as of March 2008 as Ambassador to the United States. Prior to that, he served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Ambassador to the United Nations, the Organization of American States, Canada, Germany and Norway.
During his first tour as Ambassador to the OAS (1987-88), he advocated OAS involvement in democratic development, introducing resolutions and concepts for discussion in the Permanent Council to help bring the issue to the fore and lay the groundwork for such a role. In 2004, he was
appointed to a second term at the OAS, where he was elected chairman of the Juridical and Political Affairs Committee and chairman of the Budget Committee
He has held fellowships at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he analyzed the future of the Inter-American System and the OAS’ new role in the areas of democratization and regional security and at the National Endowment for Democracy, where he analyzed the benefits of trade agreements on institutional development in transitional democracies.Ambassador Villagrán holds a master’s degree in international affairs from GeorgetownUniversity in Washington, D.C., and an undergraduate degree in law and social sciences from the Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala City.
Eliot L. Engel received his Master’s Degree in 1973 from Herbert H. Lehman College (CUNY) and a law degree from New YorkLawSchool. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1976 and served for twelve years prior to his election to the U.S. Congress in 1988.
A friend and supporter of the OAS, Rep. Engel was a member of the Congressional Delegation attending the V Summit of the Americas; as Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere he has advocated positive engagement with Latin American countries and for promoting a shared and cooperative hemispheric agenda.
Rep. Engel has been one of the strongest advocates of the Merida Initiative, authored the Syria Accountability and
Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, which successfully sparked international pressure on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, and sponsored a key resolution recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.
Congressman Engel serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including the Subcommittees on Health, and Energy and Air Quality. He also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and is the Chairman of theSubcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, as well as serving on the Subcommittee on Europe, and the Subcommittee on the Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment.
Ambassador Enrique de Obarriois Vice president of the Private Sector of the Americas. He holds a degree in law and political science from the Universidad Santa María La Antigua and completed post-graduate studies at the GeorgetownUniversityLawCenter.
He has represented his country before the OAS in many different capacities, including as political advisor and later Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Panama to the OAS.
He started his own practice in 1998 after having contributed to the development of banking laws and the guild-up and transparency of the International Banking Center of Panama. He served from 2000 to 2004 as National General Counsel to the Superintendence of Banks of Panama.
As President of the Commission on Ethics, Citizenship and Democracy of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives, he was involved in drafting and promoting the Transparency Laws and was the organizer of the First Forum on Ethics in the Financial Sector. He is the Founding Vice President of the “Private Sector of the Americas” network; Head Representative of the NGO Sector before Panama´s “Consejo de la Concertación Nacional para el Desarrollo”; Alternate General Coordinator of the Latin-American Network for Democracy (Civil Society hemispheric network), and founding member of Panama´s National Council for the Ethical Culture.
Ambassador Camilo Ospina Bernal is a graduate of the Universidad del Rosario de Bogotá where he completed studies in Law and specialized in administrative law. Throughout his career in academia, he has lectured at Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Los Andes, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Sergio Arboleda and Universidad de la Sabana.
He has been a researcher and vice dean of the Universidad del Rosario, counsel to the General Director of Budget at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit in Colombia and adviser to the United Nations Development Programme. He served as Senior Legal Advisor to the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia (2002-2005), and as National Defense Minister(2005–2006). He was appointed Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the OAS in July 2006.
Ambassador Albert R. Ramdin took officeas OAS Assistant Secretary General on July 19 2005, serving before his election as Ambassador at Large and Special Adviser to the Government of the Republic of Suriname on Western Hemispheric Affairs and as Adviser to the Ministers of Trade and Industry,Foreign Affairs andFinance.
In 1997, Ramdin became his country’s Permanent Representative to the OAS,chairing the Permanent Counciland the Inter-American Council for Integral Developmentand coordinating the Caribbean Community Ambassadors Caucus.
In 1999, he joined the CARICOM Secretariat as Assistant Secretary-General for Foreign and Community Relations and played a leading role in increasing cooperation with the Central American Integration System and the Andean Community. In 2001, Ramdin was named Adviser to the
OAS Secretary General, with special attention to the Caribbean. He continued his close engagement with the situation in Haiti, dealt with issues of priority for small states, monitored the hemispheric trade agenda and briefed the General Secretariat on Caribbean concerns.
Ramdin received his education in Paramaribo and in The Netherlands, at the University of Amsterdam and the Free University, where he studied geography of developing countries with a specialization in social and economic problems of smaller economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Irene Klinger is the Director of the Department of International Affairs at the OAS. She is responsible for advising on relations with the Permanent Observers, UN system agencies, inter-American agencies, international finance institutions, private sector and civil society; developing and implementing outreach programs, such as the Lecture Series of the Americas—a monthly conference series on particular issues of hemispheric interest, the Model OAS General Assembly, OAS Policy Roundtable Series and briefings for a diverse audience.
She coordinates Permanent Observer’s support to the different technical areas of the OAS and the development of a comprehensive fundraising strategy to mobilize resources from Permanent Observers for OAS priority projects and programs. Previously, Klinger served as Executive Secretary with the OAS Summit of the Americas Secretariat and as Director of External Relations for the Pan American Health Organization.
She is a University of Chile graduate and holds a graduate degree in economics from the University of Amsterdam.
About the OAS Policy Roundtables
This program was launched in January 2007 to enrich the hemispheric agenda by bringing together political analysts and the diplomatic community to discuss key issues affecting the region. The OAS Policy Roundtable series is designed to promote informal dialogue among specialists and the political decision-makers on the full range of issues on the OAS agenda. The format varies between presentations with commentators to a discussion of different points of view on an issue.
Organization of American States
Secretariat for External Relations
Department of International Affairs