The UPD and the Inter-American Dialogue worked together on the development of an informal hemispheric network of legislative leaders from the USA, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The network brings together distinguished legislative leaders in order to study how to enhance legislatures’ contributions to foreign affairs-related issues and in order to exchange experiences and opinions.

The first meeting of the Network of Legislative Leaders of the Americas, which was held on November 21-22, 1998, in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, was attended by national legislators from 30 of the Hemisphere’s nations. The issues discussed included the situation of legislatures in the Americas, the role of legislatures in foreign affairs, the problems of international trade, and the international financial crisis and its impact on the region.

A workshop on legislative drafting techniques was held from July 27 to August 24, 1998 in Barbados. The workshop was organized by the UPD in cooperation with Law Department of the University of the West Indies. Its objectives were to strengthen the operational capacities of the legislative drafting offices in the Caribbean member states of the OAS by improving the knowledge and professional skills of technical staff in these offices.

A seminar to present the Computer Program for a Legislative Information Network for Central America and the Dominican Republic (RILCA) was held in San Salvador, El Salvador, on December 3-4, 1998 under the aegis of the joint support program for legislative processes and institutions in the Central American region.

Citizen participation is fundamental to the goal of assisting the return of governmental authority and decision-making to the local level. Therefore, the UPD has been very active in efforts to decentralize decision-making and strengthen local governmental. structures, at the request of member states. With the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Honduras, the UPD works with national and multilateral institutions to bring together mayors, city officials, legislators, and other local leaders to increase attention to local government and citizen participation in the national and Inter-American political agenda.

Some of the seminars and meetings which the UPD conducted or supported in 1999 and in early 2000, included:

• Regional Seminar: Legislation for the Reconstruction of Central America. This seminar took place February 18-19, 1999, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It was jointly organized with the Forum of Presidents of the Legislative Branch of Central America (FOPREL), and the Congress of Honduras.

• Meeting of the Central American Inter-parliamentary Committee on Legislative Modernization. This seminar occurred on November 29, 1999, in Guatemala and was jointly organized with FOPREL.

• Regional Seminar: Institutional Dimension of MERCOSUR. This seminar took place November 18-19, 1999, in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was jointly organized with the Program for Legislative Studies of the Latin American Center for Human Economy (PEL-CLAEH), the Joint Parliamentary Commission of MERCOSUR (CPC), and the Congress of Uruguay.

The following list details some of the technical assistance programs to strengthen legislative institutions in which the UPD is involved and its activities during the period of 1999 through the beginning of 2000:

• Juridical Support for the Congress of Guatemala. This initiative consists of the participation of five experts in a technical assistance program in support of the Presidency, the Vice Presidency and the legislative commissions of the Congress, in order to write the Peace Accords into law. The program is executed with financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

• Support for the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, the Congress of Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. The assistance of the UPD to the above-mentioned institutions, in general terms, consists of providing supervision and advisory services for the development and implementation of the modernization plans of these national parliaments. This assistance focuses particularly on the modernization of the administrative, legislative management and information system aspects of these legislatures. Various activities undertaken are done in coordination with the IDB and other cooperating institutions.

• Support for the Forum of Presidents of the Legislative Bodies of Central America (FOPREL). UPD's assistance consists of coordination, supervision and advisory services to support the work of the Presidency, the Executive Secretariat and the Central American inter-parliamentary commissions of FOPREL (e.g., of Anti-Corruption y Narcotics Activity (CICONA), and of Legislative Modernization). This support includes research, seminars, publications and development of the Legislative Information Network for Central America and the Dominican Republic (RILCA).

• Support for the Andean Parliament. The UPD provides coordination, supervision and advisory services for the development and implementation of a work plan that includes research, seminars, publications and development of the Andean Legislative Information Network (RAIL).

• Support for the Joint Parliamentary Commission of MERCOSUR (CPC). Includes research, workshops, publications and development and the presentation of the Prototype of the Inter-parliamentary Network of Legislative Information (RIIL).