Dates: September 24 & 27, 2014
Location: Santiago, Chile
The board met in September on the margins of the Plenary Assembly, hosted by Ignacio Urrutia in Santiago. This meeting focused on project development and on the importance of collaboration with the OAS – a new associate member on the board – as well as with other organizations with projects on issues relevant to the legislatures of the region. Following the elections held during the plenary’s closing session for positions on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Group of Women Parliamentarians, the board conducted a lunch meeting and welcomed the new board representatives.
"It is the first time that the Dominican Republic enters to form part of the Caribbean regional representation [on ParlAmericas’ Board of Directors], and we hope to continue contributing to the enrichment of dialogue, the exchange of experience, and cooperation among our parliaments."
Guadalupe Valdez San Pedro, Member of the
Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic
"It was a really good opportunity for us to get together and to discuss priorities and lay out the path coming forward this next year."
Randy Hoback, Member of Parliament of Canada
"We are from different regions and different countries, but we have seen …how from a policy viewpoint … the problems implicated in our realities are very similar and the only way to find solutions [is to work] along the same lines ... No country will be able to make progress if we do not have a regional and global strategy. And this is a space for planning and debating these regional and global strategies."
Alicia Comelli, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina
"Participating in ParlAmericas’ activities is one of the most important roles in my parliamentary life, because it allows me to interact with parliamentarians from other countries, to discuss and debate topics of national and international interest."
Germán Blanco Álvarez, Representative of Colombia