Organisation of african unity

The OAU is the major organisation of African States based on the Organisation' s Charter, signed by member states in Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963. Membership consists of all states on the African continent and adjacent islands (including Madagascar and Mauritius) with the exception of Morocco which has suspended participation.

The main objectives of the Organisation are to promote the unity and solidarity of African states; to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa; to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence; to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; and to promote international cooperation having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The principal institutions of the Organisation are the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the supreme policy-making body which meets at least once a year; the Council of Ministers which meets at least twice a year; the General Secretariat of the Organisation situated in Addis Ababa and headed by a Secretary-General appointed by the Assembly; the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration consisting of twenty-one members, established by a Protocol signed by OAU member states in Cairo on 21 July 1964; the Coordinating Committee for the Liberation Movements of Africa situated in Dar es Salaam, and eight Specialised Commissions.

Organisation of american states

The OAS has inherited a long tradition of cooperation in North, Central and South America and is today the supreme regional coordinating body for all matters affecting inter-state relations in this region. It is based on the 1948 Charter of the Organisation of American States as amended by the 1967 Protocol of Buenos Aires, the 1985 Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, the 1992 Protocol of Washington and the 1993 Protocol of Managua.

The members of the Organisation are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba (suspended), Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, EL Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela. Permanent Observer status is accorded to thirty-seven states, and to the European Union.

Policy matters are determined by the General Assembly which meets annually and in occasional special sessions, and Consultative Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs which are held when necessary. Three Councils, each composed of one representative of each member state, meet in Washington, where the General Secretariat is situated. These are the Permanent Council which supervises the work of the Organisa

tion and deals with matters of a political nature; the Inter-American Economic and Social Council; and the Inter-American Council for Education, Science and Culture. In addition, there are the Inter-American Judicial Committee, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

ORGANISATION OF THE PETROLEUM

EXPORTING COUNTRIES

OPEC was founded in 1960, and member states are Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

OPEC's prime objective is to ensure fair and stable petroleum prices for producers and a regular and efficient supply for consumers, and pricing policies have a considerable influence on those of most other oil-exporting countries. Regular meetings of OPEC Oil Ministers are held at intervals of six months, with provision for extraordinary meetings. The Secretariat of OPEC is in Vienna.

SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL

COOPERATION

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was inaugurated at the first Summit meeting of the Heads of State and Heads of Government held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in December 1985.

Institutionally, SAARC has four tiers: the annual Meetings of Heads of State or Government which constitute the supreme authority; the Council of Foreign Ministers which meets twice a year or additionally in extraordinary sessions and is responsible for the review and formulation of policy; the Standing Committee of Foreign Secretaries responsible for the overall coordination of policies and for identifying new areas of cooperation; the Programming Committee of senior officials responsible for organisation and administration; the Technical Committees, responsible for formulating programmes and projects, and Action Committees responsible for their implementation.

Areas of special cooperation are agriculture, communications, environment, health, population, meteorology, drug trafficking and abuse, rural development, science and technology, tourism, transport, and women in development. The initiative of special significance is the SAARC Audio Visual Exchange Programme which encourages the exchange of radio and television material in order to promote people- to-people understanding. Economic cooperation takes the form of the South Asian Development Fund and the formation in 1993 of the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement designed to liberalise, on a step- by-step basis, intra-regional trade and to make provision for the least developed countries in the region.

Decisions at all levels are taken on the basis of unanimity; bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from SAARC deliberations; regional cooperation is not held as a substitute for bilateral or multilateral cooperation, but as complementary to them; and cooperation is based on respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, and non-interference in internal affairs of other states.

Despite its diversity, SAARC provides a forum for cooperation, active collaboration and mutual assistance among the countries of the South Asian region in the economic, cultural, technological and scientific fields. It also highlights the objective of strengthening cooperation in international forums on matters of common interest and of enhancing mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems. The Secretariat is in Kathmandu.