SELA COMMEMORATES 40 YEARS OF PANAMA SIGNATURE CONVENTION

Caracas, November 04, 2015 (SELA).- The Permanent Secretariat of SELA held today in the Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela, a wreath at the statue of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, on the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of The Panama Signature Convention, establishing the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA.

The memorial service was conducted by the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Roberto Guarnieri, Ambassador of the Republic of Panama, His Excellency Mr. Miguel Octavio Mejia Miranda; as second vice president of the Latin American Council, Ambassador of the Republic of Nicaragua, His Excellency Mr. Ramón Leets Castle; and on behalf of the Presidency of the Latin American Council, the second secretary of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Brazil, Mr. Lindolpho Cademarteiro.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela endorsed official acts, and Caracas Martial Band executed glorious National Anthem of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, followed by the National Anthem of the Republic of Panama.

Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) is a regional intergovernmental organization, created on 17 October 1975 by the Panama Convention. Establishing the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), based in Caracas, Venezuela. SELA is currently composed of 27 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica , Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

In its 40 years of uninterrupted work, SELA has established itself as a regional body of reference for the Latin American and Caribbean region. Performs tasks of consultation, coordination, cooperation and joint economic and social promotion, permanent, with international legal personality, composed of 27 Latin American and Caribbean sovereign states; aimed at promoting a system of consultation and coordination to arrange common positions and strategies in Latin America and the Caribbean, economic, against countries, groups of nations, international forums and organizations and to foster cooperation and integration among Latin American and Caribbean.

The Permanent Secretariat has developed systematic studies on the mechanisms of integration of Latin American and Caribbean region, by assessing progress on its coordination and convergence, for the recognition of the main opportunities and challenges, designed to show the positioning current mechanisms of integration in achieving its objectives and in the configuration of a Latin American and Caribbean economic space; this in accordance with Decision No. 527 of the Latin American Council, dated October 21, 2011, referred to the "Linking the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and its Work Programme with the forming process of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).