The Secretary General of the Organization of American States Cesar Gaviria and the president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, Peter Haki arrive today to participate in a meeting where their joint project, the Inter-American Network of Legislative Leaders will be launched on Saturday in Boca Chica. The OAS-IAD project is designed to promote dialogue, exchange of ideas and experience, and cooperation among key legislators in the Western Hemisphere. The two-day event will be held at the Hotel Coral Hamaca Beach. It starts with an official welcome from President Leonel Fernández at 9:00 AM. Legislators from the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America are participating. Participants from the Dominican Republic will include Senator (and presidential PRD pre-candidate) Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Deputy Reynaldo Pared Pérez (PLD). Ortiz Bosch was part of the organizing committee for the Network and will be one of the opening speakers on Saturday. The event will discuss, among other things, the legislative role in setting foreign policy, legislative initiatives to combat drug trafficking and money laundering, and the negotiations for a hemisphere-wide Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.
