For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 15, 2002
Statement on Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism
On November 12, the President Submitted the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism to the Senate for its advice and consent to
ratification. The Convention was negotiated in direct response to the
events of September 11, 2001, and was adopted at the Organization of
American States (OAS) General Assembly meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados,
on June 3, 2002. As the attacks of September 11 brought home to our
hemisphere, economic growth requires security as well as trade
agreements and economic reforms.
We face a common threat to our security and prosperity, and
together the nations of our hemisphere have responded. The Convention
binds us even closer in our common battle against those who seek to
destroy the values of democracy and values of tolerance that we cherish
so greatly. The Convention will strengthen regional cooperation in the
fight against terrorism in a variety of areas: exchanges of
information; exchanges of experience and training; technical
cooperation; and mutual legal assistance. The Convention is consistent
with and builds upon previous counterterrorism instruments as well as
UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
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