"This award confirms that the work we are doing has been appreciated beyond our borders"


07 Oct 2005

The President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, called the prize he received yesterday in New York from the Council of the Americas an acknowledgment of a country that has made an effort to develop with equality.
"I am very pleased about this award. I feel personally appreciative, but I also receive it in the name of Chile. This award confirms that the work we are doing to start off the 21st century has been appreciated beyond our borders. And I am all the more proud to be receiving this award on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Council of the Americas," commented the President during his speech before more than 100 people invited to the event, which was held at the Americas Society building.
The medal awarded to Lagos is given out annually to democratically-elected heads of state who have contributed to social, political and cultural understanding in the region. The award was begun by David Rockefeller, the founder of the Council of the Americas, in 1965.
In his speech, President Lagos stated that "in the 21st century, I think it is our moral obligation to create the necessary conditions for growth. It is only through growth and competent economic management that we will be able to generate jobs and funds for public policies that can help those sectors of society that have the least."
He also reminded all present that the challenge for Chile and all other countries in the region is "to make our societies freer and more egalitarian, with opportunities for all; societies where respect for human rights is solidly established in the nation’s unconscious."
He added that "while we promote internal cohesiveness and increased democracy, we need to face another challenge. We need to guarantee the rights of our citizens in an increasingly more integrated and more challenging world."
President Lagos continued that "this is a challenge that the countries of America -north, central and south- cannot shrink from. Geography and history determined that we coexist with the earth’s greatest power. And the United States and Canada make up this enormous area of developed countries in the northern part of the hemisphere."
He also talked about the importance of the nomination of former Chilean Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza to head the Organization of American States (OAS): "We have nominated one of our own, José Miguel Insulza, to be Secretary-General of the OAS, because Chile is a country open to all continents. We are also a country that values multilateralism as a strategic option to create stability among nations, and a country that wishes to give the word ‘cooperation’ a deep and real meaning."
Lastly, he had positive words for the close relationship between Chile and the United States in recent years, manifest not only by the free trade agreement between the two, but also in the excellent state of relations. "Chile and the United States have moved towards a modern, mature relationship, a relationship appropriate for two countries that see friendship and dialogue as a given," he concluded.
Source: www.presidencyofchile.cl Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández, rogofe47@hotmail.com