A forum for the future.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: 1998 Organization of American States Conference on the Americas - Includes related information

Former presidents and prime ministers, Nobel laureates, top government officials, and private-sector leaders were among those who discussed and debated the major issues of the hemisphere during the OAS "Conference on the Americas." Some eight hundred people attended the event, held March 5-6 in the Hall of the Americas at OAS headquarters.

Though it celebrated the Organization of American States' fiftieth anniversary, the conference focused less on the past than on the present and the future--on how the nations of the region together can "confront the challenges of our evolving hemispheric circumstances," as Assistant Secretary General Christopher R. Thomas said in his opening remarks.

Six panel discussions addressed key issues on the agenda for the April 1998 Summit of the Americas in Chile: democracy, education, poverty, human rights, sustainable development, and trade. Secretary General Cesar Gaviria talked about the importance of continuing to reshape the Organization so it can effectively carry out the mandates established by the hemisphere's presidents and prime ministers.

U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright and Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy were among the featured speakers at the Washington conference. Several Caribbean leaders also spoke, including Sir Orville Turnquest, governor general of the Bahamas, and Saint Lucia's governor general, Pearlette Louisy.

Panelists included Costa Rican vice president Rebeca Grynspan; the former prime minister of Haiti, Claudette Werleigh; the former prime minister of Dominica, Dame Eugenia Charles; and former OAS secretary general Joao Baena Soares of Brazil.

The conference highlight was a forum that brought together six Nobel Prize recipients for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on topics as diverse as economics, poetry, personal heroes, and the nature of democracy.

Throughout the two-day conference, democracy was the common thread that tied together nearly every discussion. Although the region has overwhelmingly embraced democratic values in the past two decades, the political gains must lead to deeper changes that affect people's everyday lives if democracy is to succeed in the long term, participants said.

In a luncheon speech, Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes stated that one of the great challenges and opportunities for the region in a post-Cold War era is how to meet political, economic, and social goals simultaneously. "The cry throughout Latin America is: We want...