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O. De La Guardia Boyd: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session VI-B
Written by Dr. Osvaldo De La Guardia Boyd, Executive Director, Central America Institute for Public Administration, Panama
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, co-founder of the Universal Federation for Peace; Excellencies; Honorable gentlemen and ladies; Authorities of the Universal Federation for Peace; Senior officials; Special guests who join us at the Peace Summit 2023.
I have the honor to make a small intervention, in my capacity as Executive Director of the Central American Institute of Public Administration (ICAP), a regional international organization that was created within the framework of the United Nations, specialized in public administration to respond to the needs and strengthening of human resources in Central America and the Caribbean.
ICAP has become a point of reference for the promotion of development and prosperity in the region, aimed at training professionals with values such as excellence, critical thinking, and empathy, and who face and generate solutions to the challenges of the Central American societies.
From my side, education is an essential element to build peace societies. Education faces challenges from the integrality of public policies, the use of technology and the generation of leadership, but especially the formation of citizens beyond that are only professionals. We need citizen-professionals with a positive, analytical, and transforming attitude who can be the engine of development and well-being.
In 2023, ICAP celebrates 69 years of being at the service of the region, focusing as an institution that promotes, based on the improvement of public processes, the principles of peace. Our region is full of many divergences. We want to support the works for human development, progress, prosperity, equality, and solidarity, which are urgently needed in our world.
The Institution's mission deals with the ability to influence the modernization of public administrations, the strengthening of human resources and promoting integration processes for the construction of Central America as a region of peace. Our goal is to prioritize security, human rights, a sustainable approach in public management and the promotion of a vision of development beyond merely economic horizons.
We live in an interconnected world and cycles, where our actions have an impact on the actions of others. We must work together for a common good, and a common cause, namely, global peace.
What do we understand by peace? It is a concept frequently mentioned in the speeches of many leaders and gatherings. It evokes a feeling of being well with the other, in other words, it seeks human understanding.
Peace is a word that is constantly transformed, and that, regardless of cultural differences and languages, is transversal to human values and principles.
It is important to understand that peace is not only the absence of conflict or the fear of violence, on the contrary, it is a task that States must carry out every day. Peace is related to the growth of the population's income, to the implementation of sustainability policies, to the guarantee of a better quality of life for the communities and to the fight for an equitable distribution of resources.
Peace is part of global development and prosperity. When peace is the light that guides a nation, a region or the world, the doors for cooperation and progress open. Peace goes hand in hand with prosperity as the common objectives that we all share and for which we are gathered at Peace Summit 2023. We must work together for a more just, equal, peaceful, and prosperous world for all people.
This international event will offer many good experiences and learning opportunities which are necessary to promote and guarantee peace, sustainable development, and economic prosperity, in all regions of the world.
We are assembled as a united body to lend our support for gender equality, universal access to education, quality medical care, fair trade, access to drinking water and clean energy.
We are united by the vision of a world of peace where nations can fairly exchange goods and services, and to continue building more and better opportunities for the benefit of societies which will generate jobs and boost economic recovery.
In the international arena, armed conflicts develop where governments must divert resources that ideally would be invested in infrastructure, social action, science and technology. How blessed it would be if we could exchange weapons for wisdom, and tanks for schools and roads.
With everyone’s cooperation, support and understanding, the promotion of peace offers social and cultural benefits. We must work together and continue building this community of peace, so that more people live in safe and stable spaces, and where their priorities are not plagued by insecurity and uncertainty.
An international community of peace helps us to build stronger and lasting relationships, with fairer and more inclusive societies, which in turn, will lead to development and prosperity. We must work for a more just and prosperous world, focused on resolving conflicts horizontally and peacefully.
I invite you to learn about ICAP and its transformations in the region. I extend my hand to build bridges of dialogue and generate synergies that will lead us to a successful port, a port that is for everyone.
Long live world peace, thank you very much!
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.