Dignitaries at headquarters.

• Position: Guyana Pres Cheddi B. Jagan

IN A SPEECH before a protocolary session of the OAS Permanent Council on September 1, President Cheddi B. Jagan of Guyana called for greater regional cooperation in order to overcome persistent economic challenges of poverty and debt.

"We must together examine our development strategies so that we have not only economic growth but human development that meets the basic needs of our people," Jagan counselled. "Our people must enjoy not just political and civic rights, but economic, social and cultural rights as well." Jagan noted that Guayana's economic woes have been compounded by falling prices of its chief exports, bauxite, oil and bananas. He said specifically that banana producers in Central America and the Caribbean must "act in a united way in response to falling prices and European protectionism."

Jagan, 75 years old, was first elected to parliament in 1947 and became president in 1992...