Upon receiving the gavel representing the authority of the Council, Ambassador Albán said it is “urgent that we address the discussion on the OAS strategic vision,” a debate initiated by the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, in February 2012 and renewed in April this year.
In this regard, the Peruvian representative highlighted the fact that the Permanent Council has already installed a working group, chaired by the Mission of Mexico and co-chaired by the Mission of Barbados, to start discussions.
“From this chairmanship, I pledge to try and ensure that all efforts and tasks we undertake in our various committees may, indeed, contribute to reaching substantive results and progress towards that discussion,” he said.
The past immediate chairman was Permanent Representative of Paraguay, Martín Sannemann.
The Permanent Council’s statutes establish that the chairmanship be exercised by each of the Permanent Representatives in turn, following the alphabetic order in Spanish of the names of their respective countries, and the office of Vice Chair, by identical standards, following reverse alphabetical order. The Vice Chair of the Council will be the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, Ambassador Deborah-Mae Lovell.
After the ceremony, the Permanent Mission of Peru, with the support of the Art Museum of the Americas of the OAS, inaugurated the photo exhibit “Cusco: A Timeless Land,” by photographer Martín Chambi and his followers, which displays a series of pictures of the Peruvian city.
