III Regional Meeting of Vice Presidents Concludes in Santo Domingo

III Regional Meeting of Vice Presidents Concludes in Santo Domingo
Vice Presidents and dignitaries in Santo Domingo attending the III Regional Meeting of Vice Presidents recommended to their respective leaders that they should designate 1% of their Gross Domestic Product to promote access to science, technology and innovation.

“The administration of the fund should be done within the Convention Framework of the UN Commission on Climate Change, signed by the leaders of our countries,”

They also asked the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), in its function as a political organ of the Central American Integration System (SICA), to promote initiatives in the area of transparency, combating corruption, conservation of the environment, natural resources and the use of information technology and communication, reported the Presidency of the Republic.

It was decided at the meeting to follow the suggestion made by Dominican President Leonel Fernández to the United Nations to create a Fund for International Cooperation for the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters that would include the adoption of urgent measures so that countries can better adapt to the effects of climate change.

He also stressed the need for new relations between science and society as a way of solving pressing problems such as poverty, environmental degradation, the lack of public health services and to guarantee the distribution of food and water, topics related to demographic growth.
Reading the final declaration of the III Regional Meeting of Vice Presidents, host of the event Dominican Vice President, Rafael Alburquerque, called on governments to reduce the wide digital divide that exists in the area of technology.

Participants agreed to coordinate their participation in the First Central American Forum for Transparency, to be celebrated by the Salvadoran government, SICA Transparency International in September in San Salvador under the slogan, “For a Region Free of Corruption.” They will also participate in the climate change convention the UN is holding in Mexico.

In the second joint declaration, this one on climate change, the Vice Presidents and dignitaries expressed their concern about the vulnerability of the region in the face of the negative effects of climate change. On this point they supported the initiative to create a regional fund for the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change.

They called for developed countries to assume the leadership in the reduction of green house gas emissions to be done with specific goals. Likewise, these developed countries must show economic support for the creation of this fund.

“The administration of the fund should be done within the Convention Framework of the UN Commission on Climate Change, signed by the leaders of our countries,” according to the fifth point of the statement.

Within this document, the Vice Presidents also promised that their respective countries would adopt legal and financial measures to verify the formation, administration, implementation and rendering of accounts within this fund.  

Those present at this III Regional Meeting of Vice Presidents, in addition to the host Dominican VP Rafael Alburquerque, included Guatemalan, Rafael Espada; Costa Rican, Alfio Piva Mesen; El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez Cerén; the Prime Minister of Belice, Gaspar Vega; the Minister designate of Honduras, Víctor Hugo Barnica; and the representative from Nicaragua, Eduardo Bolaños Jones. In addition, the Panamanian Ambassador to the DR, Alberto Magno Castillero attended as a representative of his Vice President Juan Carlos Varela.