Tuxtla Mechanism Summit Concludes in Costa Rica

San José__ The 16th Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Cooperation Summit concludes today with the endorsement of the Political Declaration of Costa Rica by the heads of state or their representatives from the 10 member countries, Prensa Latina reports.

The presidents will also approve the 10 sectoral declarations - health, environment, risk management, regional security, transport, trade facilitation and competitiveness, among others - that give the guidelines, as well as the final report of the Academic Forum: United Mesoamerica promoting Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Costa Rican Deputy Foreign Minister and presidential commissioner Alejandro Solano said that Tuxtla Summit, facing the new challenges of the region, opens up new opportunities for political dialogue so that the rulers share their views on common problems.

Also, he continued, so that the presidents delimit the great objectives and ratify that will of working in an agenda of cooperation articulated under the Mesoamerica Project.

This is the third time Costa Rica hosts the Summit (2nd in 1996 and 11th in 2009) which will be held under the slogan 'Mesoamerica unites us'; and calls for reflection on the potential benefits and opportunities of PPPs as drivers of an inclusive development model in the region.

In this regard, the Costa Rican Foreign Minister, Manuel González, told reporters on Tuesday that Costa Rica is convinced that PPPs are a tool to meet the needs of the inhabitants and to generate shared value.

However, he said, the lack of knowledge and awareness about the benefits of partnership development, as well as the structural difficulties to materialize joint projects, limits our ability to use PPPs as a support for development in our region.

The Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Cooperation was created in 1991 in the Mexican city that gives it its name and it is composed of Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.