11th Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization – Manaus, November 22, 2011 – Manaus Commitment

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Federative Republic of Brazil, Republic of Colombia, Republic of Ecuador, Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Republic of Peru, Republic of Suriname and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, together in Manaus, Federal Republic of Brazil, on 22 November 2011 on occasion of their 11th Meeting:

BASED ON the principles and objectives of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty signed in 1978 and its Amendment Protocol signed in 1998 that fostered expanded and deepened relations between the Amazon countries with positive consequences for the current South American unity and integration process;

DETERMINED to continue the process of relaunching ACTO initiated in November 2009 in the Meeting of the Heads of State of the Amazon Countries to face the new challenges imposed by the regional agenda;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the Amazon Cooperation Strategic Agenda adopted by the X Meeting of Chancellors of ACTO held in Lima, in November 2010, strengthens the joint actions of the Member Countries of the Organization;

AWARE that the present movement of cooperation amongst the countries of the Amazon region and its peoples needs to take into account the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development;

CONVINCED of the need to promote greater advances in the areas of science, technology and innovation to enable conservation and sustainable use of Amazonian biodiversity;

CERTAIN of the importance of adopting measures that drive the renewed role of ACTO as a cooperation, exchange, knowledge and joint projection forum of Member Countries to face the new international challenges; and

DETERMINED to reaffirm their commitment to the Amazon's sustainable development, generating better living standards for the local populations.

COMMIT TO:

1. Upscale and strengthen initiatives to relaunch ACTO, in accordance with the mandate issued by the Heads of State of the Amazon countries in the 2009 Manaus Declaration and in with the decisions adopted in the 10th Meeting of Chancellors of the Organization held in 2010 in Lima, Peru.

2. Strengthen political dialogue and institutional advances with the aim of expediting approval and execution of Amazonian cooperation projects.

3. Prioritize, in the context of cooperation initiatives between Member Countries, activities that strengthen the ties between ACTO, together with national and local authorities, and the populations that dwell in the Amazon region to facilitate the process of identifying local demands for regional cooperation projects.

4. Promote seminars within each Member Country to contribute towards deepening the political relaunch of ACTO. In this regard, they support the Brazilian Government’s initiative of holding the seminar "Amazonian Cooperation Challenges and Opportunities" on 23-24 November 2011 with the aim of repositioning ACTO in the regional political agenda in this new stage of institutional consolidation.

5. Develop greater dialogue spaces with Amazonian peoples by holding a regional seminar to study and analyze the proposals presented in each of the national seminars. In this context, they salute the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia for offering to host this event in September 2012.

6. Task the ACC with seeking new funding alternatives with a view to implementing the ACTO Strategic Agenda. In this regard, they highlight the Brazilian Government’s initiative of providing access the Amazon Fund to finance forest cover monitoring projects in the Amazon region. Initiatives such as this one can be considered innovative and should be taken as an example to be followed by the Organization.

7. Promote academic mobility between students and professors of teaching institutions of the Amazon region, establishing a regional exchange program to strengthen educational cooperation between Member Countries. In this regard, they instruct the Permanent Secretariat to prepare, in 2012, an Academic Supply Guide for the Amazon Region.

8. Applaud the initiative of the Delegation of Ecuador for the creation of an Amazonian Regional University, as an intergovernmental academic and research center, affiliated to ACTO. Recognize the relevance of the research of generation of knowledge on natural wealth and the Amazonian biodiversity for sustainable development of the region. To this end, it was agreed that Special Committee should be established comprised of delegates from the higher education institutions of the Member Countries to examine the initiative and propose innovative means for its deployment.

9. Intensify cooperation activities in the areas of innovation, science and technology according to the agreements reached in the Regional Meeting held in Puyo, Ecuador, in June 2011; develop an integrated information system and standardized regional indicators to facilitate research on the Amazon by national and regional institutions; and promote the inclusion of ancestral knowledge and the community and local practices of indigenous peoples.

In this context, they instruct the Permanent Secretariat to implement the “Amazonian Observatory”, a permanent forum that will gather institutions and authorities related the topic, with emphasis on the study of Amazonian biodiversity. With this purpose the PS/ACTO shall conduct an inventory of the Academic Institutions in the Amazon to explore, together with the CCOOR, a proposal for the implementation of an Amazonian university.

10. Instruct the Permanent Secretariat to take the necessary measures for the simultaneous launch of the three Amazonian tourism circuits: “Amazon-Pacific-Andes Route”, “Amazon Caribbean Tourism Trail” and “Amazon Water Route” in the International Tourism Fair of Berlin and to participate in the Santa Cruz de la Sierra Tourism Fair in 2012, as approved in the 2nd Regional Tourism Meeting of the Amazon Countries held in September 2011 in Zamora.

11. Encourage the continued strengthening of the Permanent National Commissions, the national bodies responsible for implementing the Treaty in their respective territories, highlighting their role in liaising and implementing public policies in the Amazon region. In this context, they instruct the Permanent Secretariat to hold new meetings of sectoral authorities in the various topics of the ACTO Strategic Agenda.

12. Promote protection of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and other tribal communities of the Amazon within the framework of their respective national legislations and international law, ensuring preservation of this knowledge and consequently fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from its use. In this sense, they highlight the 3rd Meeting of High Governmental Authorities of Indigenous Affairs of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization held in September 2011 in Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

13. Receive the idea of exchanging experiences on topics regarding biodiversity genetic resources and the traditional knowledge associated with the objective of working jointly for its protection. To this end, an experts meeting of the Member Countries shall be held in the first quarter of 2012

14. Support the climate change mitigation initiatives being developed voluntarily in the region. They particularly value the Yasuni-ITT Initiative of the Republic of Ecuador and call on the international community to support the Ecuadorian proposal that seeks to protect biodiversity and indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, and promote a sustainable development model.

15. Begin dialogue between experts of the Member Countries in the areas of social inclusion, combating poverty and eradicating extreme poverty. In this context, they instruct the ACC to create an Ad Hoc Working Group to propose and examine initiatives for social development in the Amazon region.

16. Contribute to the success of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) by deepening successful experiences in the context of Amazonian cooperation in order to achieve development by reconciling sustainable use, protection and conservation of its resources to transform the current model into economically inclusive sustainable development models that respect nature, its ecosystems and the rights of the peoples.

17. Support the Peruvian proposal of holding the 2nd Meeting of Environment Ministers of ACTO in the first quarter of 2012 in Lima, Peru. On the occasion the Ministers will examine, among other issues, ACTO’s contribution to the Rio+20 Conference.

18. Commend the efforts and initiatives of the Member Countries in the context of the International Year of Forests, highlighting the role played by forests in maintaining the Amazonian ecosystem in equilibrium. In this sense they ratify the importance of initiatives to monitor forest cover, implement electronic permitting for species protected by the CITES, prevent and control forest fires and protect forest biodiversity.

19. Highlight the importance of a coordinated regional approach in matters of sustainable development. In this context, they instruct the Permanent Secretariat of the ACTO to engage the General Secretariat of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to identify the means which allow a progressive approach, coordination and joint collaboration.

20. Maintain the current commitments to reinforce the ACTO Budget.

21. Institutionally strengthen ACTO, supporting the activities of its Permanent Secretariat with a view to ensuring full compliance with the objectives of the Treaty and mandates of the Organization’s bodies

22. Salute the commitment of Peru to this Amazonian cooperation process, having hosted the last two meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of ACTO, celebrated on the 25th and 30th anniversaries of the entry into force of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty.

23. Acknowledge the outstanding work done by the former ACTO Secretary General Ambassador Manuel Picasso and continued by his successor Ambassador Alejandro Gordillo to relaunch and institutionally strengthen the Organization, which made possible the approval of the "Amazonian Strategic Cooperation Agenda" in November 2010.

24. Recognize also the work developed by the Permanent Secretariat staff in executing the mandates issued.

25. Support the future Secretary General of ACTO, who will be proposed by the Republic of Suriname and be instituted in July 2012, and the new representatives of the Member Countries in the Organization, who will take office together with the new Secretary General.

26. Thank the Government of Ecuador for its offer to host the Twelfth Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member Countries of ACTO in the second semester of 2012, at a date to be informed by the Permanent Secretariat.

27. Recognize the effort being accomplished by Peru in the Region of Madre de Dios to extinguish the illegal mining, which causes serious damage to Amazonian ecosystems. In this sense, the development of projects in Member Countries by ACTO was considered necessary, aiming real recovering, reforestation and conservation of the affected zones.

28. Thank the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Government of Amazonas for the warm welcome given to the Delegations in attendance.

Manaus, 22 November 2011