Manaus - The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (Organização do Tratado de Cooperação Amazônica) (OTCA), which is meeting at the foreign minister level in Manaus this week, says it is studying the possibility of inviting countries outside the region to join the organization as observers. The eight members of the OTCA are looking for countries that have a genuine interest in the Amazon region. According to Brazilian Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, one candidate is France because of its links with French Guiana.

Amorim says that the main topic of discussion at the meeting was Amazon security and the question of biopiracy. Traditional knowledge of local inhabitants should be considered a source of wealth for local inhabitants, said Amorim as he pointed out that many Amazon products are registered trademarks abroad. "We have to protect our intellectual property," said the minister.

Manoel Rodrigues, the Peruvian Foreign Minister, declared that sustainable development in the Amazon had to focus on the local population. He also urged the participants to act with what he called responsible sovereignty.

The OTCA meeting came to an end with the organization's secretary-general, Rosalia Arteaga, calling for the harmonization of legislation dealing with the Amazon.

The next OTCA meeting is scheduled for September 2005 in Iquitos, which is located, like Manaus, on the Amazon River.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Lilian de Macedo
Translator: Allen Bennett
09/14/2004