Caracas, Venezuela. November  25 to 27, 2008 . Simón Bolívar Conference Room. Av. Francisco de Miranda, Torre Europa, 5th Floor. Campo Alegre.

PREPARATORY STAGE

Tuesday, 25 November 2008 Morning

08:30 Registration

09:00 – 09:45 Meeting of the Heads of Delegations (Item I)

10:00 – 13:00 Inauguration of the Preparatory Stage

Speech by Ambassador José Rivera Banuet, Permanent Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)

Speech by the Chairman of the Latin American Council, His Excellency Gerónimo Cardozo, Ambassador of the Republic of Uruguay in Venezuela

Item I: Approval of the agenda for the Preparatory Stage Item III: Annual Report of the Permanent Secretariat Item IV: Work Programme for the year 2009

• Draft Work Programme for the year 2009
• Proposal for a Regional Programme on the Social Dimension of Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Proposal for a Regional Cooperation Programme on Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Afternoon

15:00 – 17:00 Continuation: Work Programme for the year 2009 Item V: Budget of the Permanent Secretariat for the year 2009

• Proposal for regularization of the Member States’ debt with the Permanent Secretariat.
• Proposal by the delegation of Bolivia for writing off the country’s debt with SELA.
• Audit Report on the Financial Statements of the Permanent Secretariat at 31 December 2007.
• Audit Proposal for the year 2008.

Item VI: Institutional Matters

• Election of Members of the Administrative Tribunal of SELA.
• Regulations for the election of the Permanent Secretary

Item VII: Other Matters

 

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 Morning

09:00-13:00 Consideration of the Report on the Preparatory Stage

 

MINISTERIAL STAGE

Afternoon

15:00 Item II Forum: “SMEs: A strategic vision of social and economic development. Lessons learned in 10 years of the SELA-IBERPYME Programme”

Presentations:

• Permanent Secretariat of SELA.
• People’s Ministry for Economy and Finances of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
• President of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF)
• Ambassador of Spain in Venezuela
• Coordination of the Management Unit of the SELA-IBERPYME Programme.
• General Management of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay.

Remarks by Representatives of the Member States of SELA Presentation of the book “SMEs: A strategic vision of social and economic development. Lessons learned in 10 years of the SELA-IBERPYME Programme”.

17:30 Inauguration of the Ministerial Stage.

• Speech by the Permanent Secretary.
• Speech by the Chairman of the Latin American Council.
• Speech by Honourable Francisco Arias Cárdenas, Vice-Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean of the People’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
• Speech by Ángel Rivera Benavides, Executive Director of the Latin American Organization for Fishing Development (OLDEPESCA)

19:00 Cocktail offered by the Permanent Secretariat of SELA.

 

Thursday, 27 November 2008
Morning

10:00 Ministerial Plenary Session

• Presentation on the experiences in regional cooperation gained within the framework of SELA, in charge of the Executive Directors of OLDEPESCA and RITLA
• Presentation of the Report on the Preparatory Stage.

Afternoon

15:00 Plenary Session

Speech by Ambassador Eréndira Paz Campos, General Director of Regional and MultilateralEconomic Organizations of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and Head of Delegation.

Consideration of the Decisions of the XXXIV Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council.

Approval of the Final Report.

Closing session