Three presidents address permanent council.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: Organization of American States

THE PRESIDENTS of three member states--Suriname, El Salvador axed Peru--addressed the OAS Permanent Council during separate protocolary sessions held September 24 in the Hall of the Americas.

President Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan of Suriname called for the OAS to place a greater emphasis on promoting social development issues, noting that "poverty and inequality are the source of the instability we are experiencing in the political functioning of states and their democratic bodies."

"Representative democracy in many of our countries has not resulted in strong economies, where the people at large, the youth and women, can benefit from income generation and social progress," cautioned Venetiaan, the first Surinamese President to speak at the OAS.

In his remarks, the President of El Salvador, Elias Antonio Saca, stressed the importance of fair and balanced international trade accords as a way to promote economic stability in the region. He called the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) signed during a ceremony held at OAS headquarters in May of this year "a tool that Central America needs to fulfill its development potential."

Saca said he hoped the participating countries would soon meet...