SELA presents directory of Latin American and Caribbean intergovernmental organizations and institutions
28 de noviembre de 2012

This directory enables the Member States of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and SELA to have a map of intergovernmental bodies.

Press and Dissemination Office of SELA

Caracas, November 28- The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), in compliance with the Panama Convention, provides the countries in the region with a "Directory of Latin American and Caribbean intergovernmental organizations, institutions and agencies," with the objective of facilitating timely and effective access to current information on entities making up regional institutions as a means to support the coordination and convergence of efforts in the integration process.

This directory enables the Member States of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and SELA to have a map of intergovernmental bodies, which contains reference information to be progressively updated and supplemented according to the governments' needs and requirements. The goal is to include all active entities that make up the regional institutionality.

The purposes of this instrument are in line with the objectives of SELA, which include, among others, "to support the integration processes of the region and encourage coordination among them, or with Members States of SELA, particularly with respect to those activities aimed at promoting greater harmonization, duly respecting the commitments made within the framework of such processes," in compliance with the provisions of the convention establishing SELA.

In addition, it aims to promote inter-institutional relations for the development and continuity of synergistic efforts by Latin American and Caribbean intergovernmental agencies, institutions and organizations, according to the development and growth of the region.

The information is sorted by the following fields: name of agency, organization or institution; acronyms, nature and purpose, host country, objectives, geographical coverage date of creation, headquarters, institutional documents, authority of the agency, Web site, Member States, organizational structure, and sector or subsector, among others.

The data can be accessed through a list of organizations, sorted alphabetically, with corresponding acronyms; through a general search by keywords or an advanced search, which offers the possibility to click pull-down menus and select the options sector, subsector, geographic coverage and Member States; and through a directory in PDF format and sorted alphabetically by organizations.

This contribution by the Permanent Secretariat of SELA is also in line with Decision 527, adopted at the XXXVII Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council in October 2011, which refers to the "Support of the Permanent Secretariat of SELA and its Work Programme to the establishment of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)".

The initiative was submitted for consideration of the Member States of SELA at the Forum "Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC): Direction and Prospects", during the XXXVIII Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council, held in Caracas from 17 to 19 October 2012.

This tool is available on the following Web site: http://directorio.sela.org/.