Declaration
ICAPP-COPPPAL/1JS/004
Declaration of the 1st
Joint Session between the ICAPP SC and the COPPPAL CB
(Buenos Aires, Argentina,
July 31, 2009)
We, the Members of the
Coordinating Body of the Conference of
Political Parties in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereinafter referred
to as the COPPPAL), a most important multilateral forum in the American
Continent since 1999, currently joined by 58 political parties from 28
countries, and the Standing
Committee of the International
Conference of Asian Political Parties
(hereinafter referred to as the ICAPP), an open forum for all political
parties in Asia, launched in 2000 and currently with over 240 political parties
from 45 countries eligible for participation in its activities, held their
first inter-continental meeting under the main
theme of the Current Global Challenges and the Role of Political Parties in Buenos Aires, Capital
City of the Argentine Republic, during July 30 to 31, 2009.
First of all, we reaffirmed
our commitment to the following principles in further promoting cooperation
among the political parties in our two continents:
-
To respect
territorial integrity and sovereignty of each country;
-
To respect
diversity in
cultural and social values of each
country, and in political ideologies of each political
party;
-
To
adhere to the rule of law and good governance;
-
To
abide by the U.N. Charter and reject any form of violence as a means to resolve
differences among nations;
-
To further
promote multilateralism to meet the current global challenges, both the
financial crisis and terrorism, as well as to fight against drug trafficking;
and
-
-To
reject colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.
We, in particular,
discussed the role of political parties in the following context:
-
To
construct a just international order and build a common strategy to meet the
current global challenges;
-
To
promote cooperation and integration between our two continents, especially in
the fields of education, technology and environment;
-
To
build capacity of producing able political leaders and responsible citizens;
and
-
To
raise public awareness for democracy and good governance.
-
We took note that the
relations
among nations are mostly dictated and defined by the policies of their
governments as well as by their commercial and financial
exchanges,
and agreed that the moment has come for political parties, as carriers of people´s
will, to assume more responsibility in shaping such
relations. In this regard, we recognized that,
without sound solid basis of political support in each country, key issues we
face today including the recent global challenges cannot be tackled in a
sustainable way.
We also agreed that it is
essential to further increase cooperation and solidarity between our two
continents through increased contacts and exchanges among the political parties
thereof to meet the current challenges and defend our common objectives of
peace and prosperity. We
noted that the fates of many nations in the two
continents have been greatly
affected by the interests of foreign powers and institutions in the
past, despite the fact that our two continents together represent 50% of the total land area
of the Earth, 68% of the world population and 53% of the world GDP.
We further agreed to
closely coordinate the following activities to promote and safeguard our common
interests:
-
To
increase mutual understanding, trust, dialogue, and
cooperation among the political parties of the two continents through more frequent
contacts and exchanges;
-
To encourage our respective governments and legislatures to
reinforce and continue their political, economic, social and cultural ties
through increased exchanges in
various fields;
-
To provide political ambiance for our governments to expand cooperation and coordination in their policies
on the various political and economic issues being debated in
various international fora with a special
emphasis on bringing together the countries that have been less fortunate with
the benefits of globalization and affected more severely by the recent global
challenges; and
-
To urge the international community to take
urgent, remedial measures to combat the global financial crisis and to contain
its severe after-effects on developing countries and their peoples, including
efforts at their poverty alleviation and economic stabilization through speedy
assistance.
We were totally
convinced that the strong bonds between our two institutions will contribute
not only to further integrating our two continents, but also to bringing more
justice and equity in international order by expanding cooperation in resolving
differences through dialogue and
consensus and bringing in more democratic values. In this context, we identified the
following initiatives, among others, as our joint priority projects:
-
Reduction of poverty and narrowing of gap between the poor and the rich,
both within and among nations, which has been further widened in recent years;
-
Promotion of Inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue;
-
Creation of micro-financing and “debt-for-equity” programs for developing
economies;
-
Establishment of a bi-continental development bank and increased cooperation
and coordination between the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asia
Development Bank;
-
Promotion and protection of migrant workers’ rights;
-
Promotion of technological cooperation between the two
continents to guarantee a sustainable human development;
-
Consolidation and coordination of policies to protect environments
in both continents, in particular their biodiversity;
-
Fighting against drug trafficking and
organized crime;
-
Providing financial support for mainstream political parties as a means to
prevent political corruption; and
-
Supporting women’s social and political participation.
We welcome the forthcoming
General Assembly of the ICAPP to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan in September
2009 as a timely initiative to bring us together again in our common quest for
a better tomorrow.
We agreed to meet regularly in
the future and to hold the Second Joint Session between the COPPPAL Coordinating Body
and the ICAPP Standing Committee at a site in
Buenos
Aires,