Declaration and action plan for Latin American economic recovery.

The Quito Declaration and Plan of Action were adopted at the Latin American Economic Conference, a meeting of regional Heads of State or Government and their personal representatives at quito, Ecuador (9-13 january).

The countries adopted "basic criteria" for renegotiating their external debts, including the following:

* "Export earnings income should not be committed beyond reasonable percentages consistent with the maintenance of adequate levels of internal productive activity";

* Debt service payments should be reduced, and mechanisms should be explored to stabilize the debt servicing of each country in accordance with its payments profile;

* Debt renegotiation "should be accompanied by commercial measures essential to improving the terms of access for exports from Latin America and the Caribbean in world markets and eliminating increasing protectionism by the developed countries";

* The possibility of converting part of the accumulated debt into long-term obligations should be urgently explored;

* A "net, adequate and increasing flow of new public and private financial resources for all the countries of the region" should be an essential component of external debt renegotiations;

* Finance ministers and Central Banks should carry out confidential exchanges of information on terms of debt refinancing and rescheduling.

Convened on the initiative of Ecuador's President Osvaldo Hurtado, the Quito Conference arose from the "Santo Domingo Pledge", adopted at a meeting in the Dominican Republic in August 1983, also initiated by President Hurtado. At that time, Latin American and Caribbean countries agreed to meet "at the highest political level" to prepare a response to the economic emergency affecting their region.

Twenty-six Latin American and Caribbean countries were represented at the Quito Conference by five Heads of Government, three Vice-presidents, five Foreign Ministers and various presidential delegates. Heads of State participating were the Presidents of Colombia (Belisario Betancur), Costa Rica (Luis Alberto Monge), Ecuador (Osvalado Hurtado) and the Dominican Republic (Jorge Salvador Blanco); and the Prime Minister of Jamaica (Edward Seaga). Vice Presidents attending were Carlos rafael Rodriquez of Cuba; Fernando Schwalb of Peru; and Jorge Illueca of Panama--now President of his country, as well as President of the thirty-eighth General Assembly.

Among other participants were theh Foreign Ministers of Argentina (Dante Caputo), Bolivia (Jose Ortiz Mercado), Brazil (Ramiro Saraiva Guerrero)...