The Summit of the Americas Process and Remittances Payments in the Americas FEDERAL RESERVE BANK of ATLANTA October 7 – 8 Atlanta GA The Summit of the Americas Process and Remittances Organization of American States

Background First Summit (Miami, December 1994) Summit on Sustainable Development (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, December 1996) Second Summit (Santiago, April 1998) Third Summit (Quebec City, April 2001) Special Summit (Monterrey, January 12-13, 2004) Monterrey, México2004

Third Summit of the Americas – April 20 – 22, 2001 Labor Growth with Equity Education Health Gender Equality Indigenous Peoples Cultural Diversity Children and Youth Summit Follow Up Connectivity Democracy Human Rights Justice Hemispheric Security Trade and Finance Infrastructure Disaster Management Sustainable Development Agriculture Migration: 2 chapters: Human Rights and Growth w/ equity

Third Summit – Quebec, 2001 Migration - Remittances “Support initiatives designed to strengthen linkages among migrant communities abroad and their places of origin and promote cooperative mechanisms that simplify and speed up the transfer of migrant remittances and substantially reduce the costs of sending them”.

Why a Special Summit? 14 new leaders Argentina - Nestor Carlos Kirchner (2003) Bahamas - Perry Christie (2002) Bolivia – Carlos Mesa Gisbert (2002) Brazil - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003) Canada – Paul Martin (2002) Colombia - Álvaro Uribe Vélez (2002) Costa Rica - Abel Pacheco de la Espriella (2002) Ecuador - Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbua (2003) Guatemala – Óscar Berger Honduras - Ricardo Maduro (2002) Jamaica - Percival James Patterson (1992/2002) Nicaragua – Enrique Bolaños (2002) Paraguay - Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003) Trinidad and Tobago - Patrick Manning (PNM) 2003 14 new leaders

Why a Special Summit? Source: Human Development Report 2004, Cultural Diversity in today's diverse world. United Nations Development Programme

Why a Special Summit? De acuerdo a los datos recientes de CEPAL, hoy en día el 44% de la populación latinoamericana y del Caribe (220 millones) vive en la pobreza y el 20% vive en la pobreza extrema. El Banco Mundial reporta en su reciente informe sobre “La Inequidad en America Latina y el Caribe,” que el 10% mas rico de la poblacion se lleva el 48% del ingreso, mientras el 10% mas pobre gana solo el 1,6%. El OIT 57 millones de habitantes de Latinoamérica y del caribe no tienen empleo o tienen empleos insuficientes. Source: World Development Indicators 2003 Edition. The World Bank

Special Summit of the Americas Issues Economic Growth with Equity to Reduce Poverty Social Development Democratic Governance

Social Development Empowerment of women OAS Mechanisms to combat poverty Strengthen the social security systems Cultural Diversity, Indigenous People Full protection of human rights of all migrants Decent work, take measures to fight the worst forms of child labor. Promote access to quality basic education for all Fight against trafficking in persons Scientific and technological research and development Combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic Impact of natural Disasters and environmental health

Economic Growth with Equity to Reduce Poverty Simplify the procedures and reduce the time and cost of establishing businesses strengthen property rights Develop micro, small and medium enterprises - access to credit Resolution of financial crises; reform the international financial architecture; reduce the burden of debt service, HIPC FTAA Calendar Remittances – reduce the average cost by at least half (2008) Monterrey consensus

Declaration of Nuevo León Economic Growth with Equity to Reduce Poverty “We recognize that remittances are an important source of capital in many countries of the Hemisphere. We commit to take concrete actions to promote the establishment, as soon as possible, of necessary conditions, in order to achieve the goal of reducing by at least half the regional average cost of these transfers no later than 2008”. Migrants: and the observance of labor laws applicable to them, in accordance with the commitments agreed to in the Santiago and Quebec City Summits. We support the adoption of programs for orderly migration as a factor of economic and social development; and we will cooperate in the fight against trafficking in persons, which especially affects women and children. Remittances: We will adopt, as needed or appropriate, measures such as: the promotion of competition between the providers of these services, the elimination of regulatory obstacles and other restrictive measures that affect the cost of these transfers, as well as the use of new technologies, while maintaining effective financial oversight.

"in the case of Honduras, it is worth mentioning that the principal source of income in Honduras today is not the big exporting activity, nor the assembly plant, nor the traditional crops like coffee and banana, nor is it even tourism. It is the remittances of poor Hondurans in the United States, who with exemplary solidarity, give back to other poor Hondurans, as a very effective social distribution mechanism". Remarks by the President of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, during the Second Plenary Session of the Special Summit of the Americas

Cost to Send $200 form the U.S. to Home Countries (June 2004) Source: Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean: Issues and perspectives on development, Orozco Manuel

In the OAS Context: Working Group for the Inter-American Program for the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights of Migrants - September 30th and October 1st 2004, - Importance of remittances flows for recipient countries. Transnational networks to enhance the remittances as a tool for development. Programs for investment and saving within the recipients communities - Ways to accomplish the goal of reducing the cost of sending remittances. Summit Implementation - How to effectively measure the costs of transfers and show trends in these costs, - What the public sector can do to increase the development impact of remittance funds

International Organization for Migration –New Member of the JSGW IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. Leading international organization for migration, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to:   Encourage social and economic development through migration Uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. Assist in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration management. Counter-Trafficking Labor Migration Migration Health Services Assisted Voluntary Returns Technical Cooperation on Migration Migration Research Migrant Movement Processing and Assistance

Fourth Summit of the Americas Argentina 2005 First week of November 2005 Theme: “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance ”. Progress report on meeting the goal of reducing the cost of remittances Civil Society Participation: Regional Forums - Present recommendations to be considered by the Officials El Canciller Rafael Bielsa de Argentina indicó en la pasada reunión del GRIC en Quito que la sugerencia del lema responde a una demanda global de diseñar e instrumentar políticas capaces de promover un marco adecuado para la generación de empleo productivo, de proteger los derechos laborales y sobre el fenómeno de un amplio diálogo intersectorial, recuperando el papel del trabajo como principal vehículo de integración de las personas. Mencionó las cifras elaboradas por el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) donde se informa que el 20% más rico de la población latinoamericana percibe el 54% del ingreso nacional, mientras que el 20% más pobre percibe sólo el 4%. En este sentido, para poder consolidar la institucionalidad democrática, los países deben incluir a los sectores más pobres en los beneficios de la gestión económica. Por ello es preciso instrumentar políticas que permitan generar empleo productivo para alcanzar una mejor y más justa distribución del ingreso. Adicionalmente, mencionó que no se debe tolerar que subsistan en nuestras sociedades ámbitos de corrupción e impunidad e indicó que se debe otorgar una absoluta prioridad a la educación como herramienta de inclusión social. Esta Cumbre será en principio coincidente con la finalización de las negociaciones de ALCA.

Engaging in the Summit Process Dialogue with National Coordinators United States of America Ambassador John Maisto National Summit Coordinator Tel: (202) 647-3141 Fax: (202) 736-7618 Next meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group Oct. 19-20, 2004. Washington D.C. Participation in Civil Society and Government Preparatory meetings

Office for the Summit Process www.summitsoftheamericas.org Organization of American States 1889 F Street NW Washington, DC 20006 USA Tel:202.458.3127, Fax: 202.458.3665 summit-info@oas.org