ANNUAL MEETING FGPA 2007

Caracas/Valencia

Introduction

The Annual Meeting 2007 of the FGPA was carried out in Venezuela, having as sites  the cities of Caracas and Valencia. The Assembly was integrated by representatives of: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The delegates  of the Federation of Green Parties of Europe and of the Green Global Coordination attended as observers.

The Annual Meeting was preceded of a public forum whose central subject was “the Climatic Crisis”, with the participation of international scientists of the high level, as well as members of environmentalist  NGOs, academicians  of Venezuela and the members of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas.

Annual meeting 2007

The introductory speech was the responsibility of Jorge González Torres of Mexico, Co President of the FGPA, having as central subject the necessity to establish a joint agenda for the meeting of the Global Greens in Sao Paulo 2008. He commented on the evolution of Greens in the Americas and the processes of birth and growth of the Green Parties. He expressed the  hope of the FGPA for advances in the negotiation for the liberation of  Ingrid Betancourt and Clara Rojas. He also expressed the position of the FGPA against the Argentinean governmental proposal regarding  the disappearance of the Ministry of Environment of Buenos Aires.

Manuel Diaz Capdevilla, of Venezuela, gave the warmest welcome to the assistants to the Annual Meeting of the FGPA.  Catherine Greeze, in behalf of the Green Global Coordination, stated the  recognition of the Global Greens  for the decision made by consensus by the FGPA in order to propose  Sao Paulo, Brazil, as the site of the world-wide meeting of 2008 after it was impossible to  carry it out  in Nairobi, Kenya, as projected. The first part of the session was dedicated to the  reports of the representatives of the Green Parties of the Americas, informing of the electoral results in the recent elections in the Continent, that altogether represent a number in the rank of 10 million voters who have given their vote and have put their confidence in the Green vision.

Other issues were also analyzed as procedures of official registries, electoral systems, campaign strategies,  advances in internal statutes , the processes of strategic alliances with other political forces, the  programmatic agreements with the federal and local governments, the systems of financing of the parties, the environmental situation in each nation and  in  the region as a whole. The Assembly of the FGPA made a special remark to the Green Party of Canada asking them to  maintain and develop a major participation in the Federation.

Presentations of:

•    Melo Viana of Brasil
•    Melanie    of Canadá
•    Manuel Baquedano of Chile
•    Juan Carlos Lecompte & Fabio Mariño of Colombia
•    Mike Feinstein of the United States
•    Jorge González & Leonardo Álvarez of Mexico
•    Flor de María Hurtado of Peru
•    Juan Manuel Velasco of Argentina
•    Miguel Angel Pimentel of Dominican Republic
•    Manuel Diaz and Gabriel Rojas of Venezuela
•    Micarla Sousa of Brazil
At the end of these presentations, the representative of the European Green Party, Catherine Greeze, was invited to present a report. In the name of the Green Global Coordination she displayed the advances in the organization of  the Second Green Global Congress, to be celebrated in Sao Paulo in 2008. The central subject will be  the Global Climate Crisis but not only from the environmental point of view, but from the political and the social perspective as well.

Agreements of XIV  Annual Meeting of the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas, that took place in Caracas/Valencia, Venezuela.

1) The Federation of Green Parties of the Americas is deeply sorry that the Green outstanding militant of Colombia, Ingrid Betancourt, continues kidnapped by the FARCS  and that the government of President Uribe has not been able to reach a Humanitarian Agreement for her release and for  all the others kidnapped. It was agreed to continue with the  efforts at legislative level to promote governmental initiatives  in each country, in order  to presure the government of Colombia to make  major efforts through a Humanitarian Agreement.

2) The Assembly unanimously decided to work together in order to present a consensual position in relation to the Global Warming and the Climatic Crisis, in the Green Global Meeting to be celebrated in Sao Paulo, Brazil, during May of 2008. It was agreed unanimously to establish a Commission in charge to prepare a document  and to design a mechanism so that all the members can participate in the discussion. This commission was integrated by Juan Manuel Velasco of Argentina, Miguel Angel Pimentel of Dominican Republic, Paty Doneau Huerta of Mexico and Manuel Baquedano of Chile, who was named Coordinator.

3) The Assembly recognized the important advances obtained by the Green Parties of the West of Africa in the integration of a regional Federation as  previous steps made in order to form a  Continental Federation. The Assembly unanimously decided to offer its support to the Green Parties of Africa in the important process of reuniting all the African Greens in one Federation, a process expected to reach its goal during the African Green Conference projected to be held in the previous days to the Green Global Congress in Sao Paulo.

4)    The Assembly unanimously decided to incorporate as members with full rights within the FGPA the following political organizations: Green Party Initiative of Argentina, Green Party of the Dominican Republic and to the Green Party of Venezuela.

5) The Assembly unanimously decided to approve the document of the creation of the organization  of the Green Young  of the Americas, group organically attached to   the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas and whose objective is to open a space for the development of the young people who militate in the Political Green Parties that are members of the FPVA.

6) The Assembly decided to forward an invitation to the Green ones of Martinique, Guyana and Guadalupe so that they participate as observers in the meetings of the FPVA.

7)   The Assembly unanimously decided to program an Extraordinary Meeting in Sao Paulo, in the first days of May, to deal with  the following issues:
• The designation of the site  for the XV Annual Meeting of the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas
• The deliberation and agreement on the positions to adopt by the Greens of the Americas during the Green Global Congress
• To open a space to receive the requests of the Green Parties of the region interested in integrating themselves to the FPVA.

 Extraordinary Official meeting of the FPVA that took place in Sao Paulo


As agreed in Venezuela, an  official session of the FGPA took place in Sao Paulo, with the attendance of the representatives of: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

Agreements of the Extraordinary Official Meeting of the FPVA

1) As requested by the Green Party of Canada, the Assembly unanimously granted them the organization in Quebec City of  the XV Annual Meeting of the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas. The dates agreed  for this meeting are the 6th  to the 9th  of November of 2008.

2) The Assembly expressed its approval with the form in which they worked and presented  a joint position of the Americas during the Green Global Congress in Sao Paulo.

3) The Assembly received individually the Green Parties that ask to be members of the FPVA:

a) Green party of Guatemala, represented by Matilde Bajan that presented a formal request and the documents of her party.

b) Green party of Bolivia, represented by Margot Soria Saravia, who presented a formal request and the documents of her party.

The Assembly decided to officially invite these 2 Green Parties to be present in the Annual Meeting of 2008 in Quebec in order to advance in the process.

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