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THE PARLIAMENTARIANS OF THE AMERICAS COMMIT TO DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION

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Sep 09, 2011, 05:11 ET

QUEBEC CITY, Sept. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The 11th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas (COPA) concluded today in Quebec with the adoption of a final declaration by some 220 delegates from 36 parliaments across the Americas.

In what will be known as the Quebec Declaration, the members of COPA undertake to work toward improved democratic practices within their parliaments, to promote gender equality, to consolidate COPA's electoral observation program, to integrate sustainable development in political and legislative action and to ensure that the Regional Millennium Development Goals are achieved in the short term.

Participants reiterated the importance of having the parliamentarians of all the legislative assemblies of the unitary, federal, federated and associated States and the regional parliaments take part in discussing the issues and shaping the positions that have a major impact on the peoples of the Americas.

"The richness and intensity of our discussions and debates and the final declaration that my parliamentary counterparts and I have just adopted bear witness to the tremendous success of this 11th General Assembly. Fourteen years after its creation, COPA is coming of age and is both pragmatic and influential. Thanks to our members' single-minded commitment, our organization is a true pillar of development, progress and prosperity for all the peoples of the Americas," Jacques Chagnon, President of the National Assembly of Quebec and COPA President said at the close of the proceedings.

The Quebec Declaration and the resolutions adopted at the 11th General Assembly will be submitted to the heads of state at the Sixth Summit of the Americas to be held in Colombia on April 14 and 15, 2012.

The 11th General Assembly, on the margins of which the Network of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas and COPA's six thematic working committees also met, was organized by the National Assembly of Quebec. For more information, visit COPA's website at www.copa.qc.ca or the "National Assembly's website at www.assnat.qc.ca, under "International".