American Commission on Organization

Telephone: (410) 965-7388

August 13, 2003

URGENT

Dear CAOSA Member:

Please allow me to take this opportunity to issue you a special invitation to attend CAOSA’s upcoming technical meeting, scheduled for Thursday, November 6, 2003.  As you may know, this CAOSA technical meeting will take place as part of the triennial Joint ISSA/ CISS Regional Conference for the Americas, hosted by Barbados’ National Insurance Board, November 3-7, 2003 at the Sherbourne Conference Center, Two Mile Hill, in St. Michael, Barbados.  

This year’s Conference, entitled Strengthening Social Security in the Americas, will take as its themes:

• The Americas Social Security Report 2003:  Evaluation of the Reforms
• Social Security and HIV/AIDS
• Performance Measurement of Social Security Administrations
• Health Care in Social Security: Policy Options in the Americas  

We expect to reflect these topics in the CAOSA technical meeting, which will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions.  CAOSA will bring together important speakers who are recognized social security experts from the Americas for presentations and discussion.

Among the speakers already scheduled, we look forward to hearing about the work of Barbados’ own National Insurance Board from some of its most senior executives.  Also sharing his rich background and training again with CAOSA members will be Dr. Aubrey Armstrong, a recognized social security consultant with strong ties to the Caribbean region, exploring problems he has identified in social security system performance measurement.

We are very pleased as well that Lic. Tomás Soley Perez, Vice President of CAOSA and the Costa Rica Pension Superintendency’s Director of Special Studies and Risk Assessment, will present an overview of the Costa Rican experience in developing its pension system management model.  Expected also, but not yet confirmed, are presentations by other leaders whose contributions we believe will provide fuel for lively and productive discussion.

As a reminder, important constitutional and regulatory changes will be considered at CISS’ Third Extraordinary General Assembly on Friday afternoon, November 7, 2003 from 2:30 to 5:30 pm .  It is not exaggeration to describe your presence at this gathering as vital, and I strongly encourage your attendance.
I urge you to immediately arrange favorable rate lodging.  Please take a moment to view the ISSA and CISS Conference web sites, which are:  

            http://www.ciss.org.mx/english/inicio_i.htm, and

             http://www.issa.int/engl/homef.htm.

These sites provide invitations and complete information about registration and securing hotel reservations, as well as expanded information about Conference themes.

 I look forward to seeing you in Barbados .

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                Dr. Joseph A. Gribbin
                                                                                Vice President, Executive Commission

                                                                                Inter-American Conference on Social Security;

                                                                               Chairman, American Commission on
                                                                               Organization and Administrative Systems;

                                                                               Associate Commissioner
                                                                               for International Programs