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Ambassador Antonio O. Garza announced today that the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Hemispheric Security, to be held here October 27-28, would be headed by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and include Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega as well as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, Ambassador John F. Maisto.
“ Without democracy and prosperity, there’s no stable basis for building peace and security in this hemisphere,” Ambassador Garza said. “That’s why the 35 nations coming to this conference – which President Fox offered to host even before the terrorist attacks of September 11th – will take the broadest approach to security. There is now recognition that extreme poverty and social exclusion affect democracy and governability, leaving societies vulnerable to the threats from terrorists and criminal organizations.”
The conference will consider many aspects of security: illicit trafficking in persons, attacks on cybersecurity, the potential damage from an accident involving petroleum, radioactive materials or toxic wastes, as well as the possibility of the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists. The OAS states will also work on confidence-building measures to lower tension among states and to take advantage of existing institutions in the inter-American system such as the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission.
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