Activities of the Secretariat
Report on the Results of Participation by the ICAPP Delegation in the 19th Plenary Meeting of the COPPPAL (El Salvador, October 8 to 12, 2010) The ICAPP Delegation to the 19th Plenary Meeting of the COPPPAL was composed of Hon. Jose de Venecia, Jr., Founding Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee, (accompanied by Mrs. Gina de Venecia, Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and Mr. Bonifacio Nakpil, Political Advisor), Hon. Chung Eui-yong, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee and Secretary General, HRH Prince Sisowath Sirirath, Vice President of Funcinpec Party of Cambodia, Hon. K.P. Oli, Head of International Department of Communist Party (UML) of Nepal (accompanied by Mrs. Radhika Shakya), and Hon. Sopheap Sao, Deputy Chief of Secretariat of the Organizing Committee of the 6th GA of the ICAPP and Advisor to the Office of the Council of Ministers of Cambodia. The Plenary Meeting was held in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the FMLN(Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional), the governing party of El Salvador, which was celebrated on October 10th. All the members of the ICAPP delegation attended the rally held at Masferrer Plaza in downtown San Salvador to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the FMLN. The rally was participated by thousands of local supporters and foreign guests. The Plenary Meeting of the COPPPAL started with the opening session in the morning of Oct. 11th which was conducted in the presence of H.E. Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador and chaired by Hon. Medardo Gonz?lez, Secretary General of the FMLN. The Plenary Meeting was attended by Hon. Dr. Antonio Cafiero, Chairman of the COPPPAL, and Hon Gustavo Caravajal Moreno, Deputy Chairman of the COPPPAL, and representatives of the following political parties from Latin America and the Caribbean: - Justice Party (Partido Justicialista), Socialist Party (Partido Socialista), and Grand Front (Frente Grande) of Argentina - Workers’ Party (Partido Dos Trabalhadores) of Brazil - Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) of Colombia - Communist Party (Partido Comunista) of Cuba - Liberation Party (Partido de la Liberacion) of the Domincan Republic - FMLN of El Salvador - Peace Alliance (Alianza Pais) of Ecuador - United National Party of Hope (Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza) of Guatemala - Democratic Revolution Party (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica), Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), Labor Party (Partido del Trabajo), and Zapata Foundation (Fundacion Zapata) of Mexico - Independence Party (Partido Independentista) OF Puerto Rico - Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Democratico) of Panama - Grand Front (Frente Amplio) of Uruguay - United Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Unido) of Venezuela At the opening session, Dr. Cafiero, Chairman of the COPPPAL, welcomed the participation by the ICAPP delegation and said the first joint session between the ICAPP and the COPPPAL in July last year symbolizes the true beginning of globalization in our two continents, and hoped that the two organizations will join hands to create new political, economic and social order in the world which is based on the principles of equality and justice for everybody. President Funes of El Salvador also welcomed the ICAPP delegation to the COPPPAL meeting. He emphasized that it’s time change our basic ideas in accordance with common principles of defending and strengthening participatory form of democracy. He said that the poverty is most serious challenge for Latin America and the cause of poverty is not the poor performance of economy but rather injustice brought about by wrong politics. And the new government under FMLN in El Salvador will seek ways to fight injustice by strengthening democratic institutions and ensuring people’s participation. He also expressed deep concerns over the recent coup in Honduras, and called upon all Latin American political parties to encourage Honduras to return to the principles of the OAS and resolve their differences through dialogue, and by using sanctions if necessary. Chairman Jose de Venecia congratulated on the 30th anniversary of the FMLN of El Salvador and also the COPPPAL on their political, economic and social achievements. He emphasized that the ICAPP represents all political parties, right, center and left. He further stressed that we can overcome our geopolitical, territorial, racial, religious and ideological differences only by bringing them together for negotiated political settlement, and proposed that the ICAPP and the COPPPAL join forces to seek power and burden sharing formula to resolve the global issues. He particularly emphasized the need for the ICAPP and COPPPAL to work together to establish the Global Anti-Poverty Fund through the U.N. The full text of his remarks is attached as Annex 1. Two plenary sessions were held in the morning and afternoon of Oct. 11th on various topics, including threats to democratic institutions, natural disasters, political crisis in Honduras, and other governance related issues. In addition, two separate sessions were held on young political leaders(COPPPAL Juvenile) and COPPPAL’s Women Mechanism. During the second plenary session, the topic of ICAPP-COPPPAL cooperation was discussed. The results of the first Joint Session between the ICAPP Standing Committee and the COPPPAL Coordinating Body held in Buenos Aires in July last year was reviewed. And the plan to hold the second Joint Session in Phnom Penh during the 6th GA of the ICAPP was reported to the meeting. In this regard, Hon. Chung Eui-yong briefly introduced the recent ICAPP activities, in particular the results and follow-up measures of the ICAPP Special Conference on Poverty Alleviation held in Kunming, China in July this year. Hon. Sopheap Sao, Deputy Chief of Secretariat of the Organizing Committee of 6th GA, briefly reported on the current state of preparations for the 6th GA of the ICAPP and expressed hope that many representatives of the COPPPAL will participate in both the second Joint Session and the 6th GA of the ICAPP. The closing session was held in the morning of Oct. 12th in the presence of Hon. Salvador S?nchez Cer?n, Vice President of El Salvador. The session was presided over by Hon. Gustavo Caravajal, Deputy Chairman of the COPPPAL. Vice President Sanchez Ceren expressed gratitude for the participation of the ICAPP delegation in the COPPPAL meeting. He also thanked the COPPPAL for its support during the FMLN’s struggle to bring about democracy and justice by eradicating authoritarian and military rule in El Salvador. He stressed that stronger solidarity among COPPPAL members is still needed to continue fight for democracy and freedom in Latin America, in particular lingering threats of coup d’etat. He also said that the COPPPAL needs to search for wider participation in its activities by political parties in the region. Dr. Antonio Cafiero, Chairman of the COPPPAL, again welcomed the participation of the ICAPP delegation in the COPPPAL meeting and closer cooperation and increased exchanges between our two organizations well demonstrated growing awareness of the importance of the roles played by political parties in this globalized world. He said our next step should be to reach out to political parties in other regions in the world to join efforts to meet common challenges we are facing. He also said that, to do so, young political leaders should play much greater roles, and welcomed the establishment of “COPPPAL Jouvenile” at this meeting. Hon. Chung Eui-yong, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee and Secretary General of the ICAPP, thanked the warm hospitality of FMLN and the COPPPAL to the ICAPP delegation. He said both the ICAPP and the COPPPAL should work out common strategies through increased cooperation and exchanges, to achieve common objectives of democracy, prosperity and peace, and to meet common challenges of poverty, terrorism, violence, environmental destruction, threats to democracy, etc. The full text of his remarks is attached as Annex 2. In addition, a meeting was conducted in the evening of Oct. 11 among the four representatives of the ICAPP and the COPPPAL, Honorables Antonio Cafiero, Gustavo Caravajal, Jose deVenecia, Jr., and Chung Eui-yong, in preparation for the second Joint Session to be held in Phnom Penh on Dec. 2, 2010. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed to focus their discussions at the second meeting on the following four topics: - Establishment of Global Anti-Poverty Fund - Establishment of ICAPP-COPPPAL Economic council - Making Use of Debt Payment to Finance UN MDG Projects - Reaching Out to Political Parties in Africa Before departing El Salvador, the ICAPP delegation was informed by the Secretariat of the COPPPAL that the representatives of the following seven political parties had so far indicated their interest in participating in the second Joint Session in December: - Justice Party (Partido Justicialista) of Argentina - Workers’ Party (PT: Partido Dos Trabalhadores) of Brazil - Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) of Colombia - Liberation Party (PLD: Partido de la Liberacion) of the Domincan Republic - Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front(FMLN: Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional) of El Salvador - Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI: Partido Revolucionario Institucional) of Mexica - Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD: Partido Revolucionario Democratico) of Panama Annexes: 1. Opening Remarks by Hon. Jose de Venecia, Jr. 2. Closing Remarks by Hon. Chung Eui-yong |
