Eight U.S. congressmen and members of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, or HDAC, arrived in Peru Sunday to negotiate and sign an unprecedented “partner legislature” framework cooperation agreement, designed to provide the Andean country’s Congress with technical assistance and training.
“We are delighted to partner with the legislatures of Peru and Kosovo, two important United States allies,” said the Chairman of the HDAC, U.S. Congressman David Price (D-NC). “Peru has demonstrated a readiness and eagerness to engage in HDAC activities, and as a swing state in Latin America it provides a significance that reaches beyond its own borders.”
The agreement is to touch upon sensitive issues such as national defense, internal order and security, alternative development and the “war on drugs,” as well as accountability and representation, reported Radio Radio Programas, or RPP.
On Sunday, Price, as well as Commission members David Dreier, Lois Capps, Sam Farr, Jim McDermott and Lucille Roybal-Allard – the first Mexican-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress – visited the National Parliament’s regional office in the southern highland city of Arequipa.
Once the deal is officially sealed, Peru will join the current HDAC partner legislatures of Afghanistan, Colombia, East Timor, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Mongolia, and Ukraine.
HDAC is charged with promoting responsive, effective government and strengthening democratic institutions in emerging democracies. Central to the Commission’s work is peer-to-peer cooperation to build technical expertise that enhances accountability, transparency, legislative independence, and government oversight in partner foreign legislatures.
