Public
FTAA.soc/w/154/Add.1
October 24, 2000

Original: Spanish
Translation: FTAA Secretariat

FTAA - COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES ON THE PARTICIPATION OF
CIVIL SOCIETY

CONTRIBUTION IN RESPONSE TO THE OPEN INVITATION

Executive Summary
Item: Civil Society.

The association of non-governmental organizations, A.S.O.N.G., considers that it would be advisable to discuss the need to reduce the imbalance found in relations between the third sector, government and business. Acknowledging that it is a fact that the organizations require greater professional skills, specialization and the ability to draw up strategies that will enable them to become a valid and extremely efficient actor, work is being done in this regard. The association also considers that it would be advisable and beneficial for government agencies and the second sector to recognize civil society as a valid actor and spokesman and, thus, help reduce existing imbalances.
The strengthening of civil society is a matter of interest for both civil society organizations and for the governments, as the stronger and more efficient civil society organizations are the stronger the collaboration, contributions, alliances and programs with the government agencies can become.
On the issue of communication and dissemination of the process itself and of the various items being discussed within the FTAA, civil society organizations are in a position to make a very broad and efficient contribution due not only to the fact that the international organizations belonging to ASONG have a presence and are active in all FTAA countries, but also because the social organizations are very close to, aware of and welcomed by society, especially among social groups who must be made aware of and interested in regional processes such as FTAA so as to make them feel that concern for their lives and the quality of those lives exists. Information and dissemination help change the attitude of the man in the street towards summit meetings as something you read about in the press that produce few results, or whose results are not well known or discussed.
There are three areas in which we the ASONG organizations believe that we can and hope to be able to make a contribution and proposals on which we are working.

-On the issue of the importance of allowing civil society organizations to contribute to the FTAA,
               - for people to be considered a top priority insofar as social policies are concerned;
               - for priorities to be assigned to social topics based on the needs and requirements of the people in our countries;
- To conributes towards a rapprochement and sensitivity towards civil society organizations, in having the man in  the street feel close to this process, and on how he views the efficiency of this type of process
- To contribute proposals on which we are working for communication and dissemination, making use of all the media and technologies available, regarding processes and issues on which the FTAA is working.