BACKGROUND
Associated Documents
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ROMRIECA XXIII Resolution No. 5-80 /Technical and Advisory Body (in Spanish)ROMRIECA XXIII Resolution No. 5-80 /Technical and Advisory Body (in Spanish)
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Resolution REMITRAN V-3-87 (in Spanish)Resolution REMITRAN V-3-87 (in Spanish)
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Constitutive Resolution / Special Agreement of the Ministers responsible for Transportation in Central America. July 11, 1991Constitutive Resolution / Special Agreement of the Ministers responsible for Transportation in Central America. July 11, 1991
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COCATRAM statutes (in Spanish)COCATRAM statutes (in Spanish)
Legal Framework
COCATRAM was created through Resolution No. 5-80 of the 23rd Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Central American Economic Integration (ROMRIECA XXIII), held on July 5, 1980, based on the stipulations of article XX of the General Central American Economic Integration Treaty (the General Treaty). It was established to provide ongoing, specialized and comprehensive institutional attention to the different aspects related to the development of maritime transport in Central America. Later, in February 1987, in line with a decision of the above-mentioned Meeting, COCATRAM was put under the authority of the Ministers Responsible for Transport in Central America, through Resolution REMITRAN V-3-87. Then on July 11, 1991, COCATRAM’s original statutes were updated through the Special Agreement signed on that date by REMITRAN in Tegucigalpa (Honduras), responding to the objectives and guidelines issued by the Central American Integration System. As a result, COCATRAM became a regional technical advisory body of the Council of Transport Ministers of Central America (COMITRAN) and of the governments of Central America. This process will henceforth be known as the Constitutive Resolution.
In line with the stipulations of the aforementioned Article 4, COCATRAM is a regional body that acts as a technical advisory body to COMITRAN and the member governments. It responds to the guidelines and policies passed by this Council of Ministers, which forms part of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and which, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the latter, is functionally dependent on the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA). It was created for the adoption of policies, measures, recommendations and decisions in the different fields of maritime transport for their application both at the regional and national levels with a view to achieving the sector’s harmonious and effective development, and in relation to extra-regional interests and bodies. As a result, the only powers it has are those expressly bestowed upon it by its Statutes and the Constitutive Resolution, none of whose provisions authorize it to intervene in affairs related to the internal jurisdiction of the body’s member States.
Organization Chart
COCATRAM will have the following bodies, in hierarchical order:
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is collegial and the highest body in COCATRAM. It is responsible for managing the body and is made up of Delegates and their Alternates from the governments of the different States that are full members and from the regional private sector linked to its activities… (). – Statutes – Article 23.
The Presidency of COCATRAM will rotate every 12 months among its member countries in the following order: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The heads of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, in the role of President and Vice-President, respectively, will be the Delegates of the governments of the countries to which the presidency and vice-presidency correspond in turn. If the country has only designated one Delegate to the Board of Directors, that person will occupy the post. The transfer of the presidency and vice-presidency to the different countries will take place during the ordinary session of the month of August each year. – Statutes – Article 24.
Article 41.– The Board of Directors will hold ordinary meetings to:
- Propose and monitor the body’s project initiatives.
- Learn about, approve or reject reports by COCATRAM’s different bodies.
- Transfer the presidency and vice-presidency of the Board of Directors at the corresponding time.
- Learn about, approve or reject the body’s work programs and budget, at the corresponding time.
- Determine the quota and form of payment for the rights of annual membership.
- Establish permanent and special commissions to comply with the body’s objectives.
- Approve provisions related to commercial transactions, public tenders, contracting and/or any other expenditure that exceeds the amounts established in COCATRAM’s internal regulations.
- Name the members of the Oversight Commission, according to what is established in these Statutes.
- Coordinate the contracting of external audits when considered in COCATRAM’s interests and follow up on their reports.
- Issue regulations and resolutions to ensure the body functions well.
- Address any other corresponding matters stipulated in the current Statutes.
Article 53.- The Board of Directors will have the following responsibilities:
- Represent COCATRAM in all functions and meetings that require its presence.
- Name its representatives for whatever it considers appropriate and necessary.
- Approve, modify or reject the minutes of previous sessions.
- Authorize the outlays that need to be incurred to comply with COCATRAM’s objectives.
- Authorize hirings and/or financial commitments when they exceed USD 10,000.
- Revise and approve the work plan and annual budget for the coming year during the November ordinary meeting.
- Interpret and regulate these Statutes, including the adoption of the general regulations and the regulations that must govern the functioning of the Executive Directorate.
- Safeguard compliance with the body’s ends and objectives.
- Determine the quota and form of payment for the rights to annual membership.
- Establish permanent and special commissions to comply with the body’s objectives.
- Comply and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitutive Resolution, these Statutes, the regulations and its own resolutions.
- Approve the body’s work and annual budget plan.
- Hold ordinary and extraordinary meetings.
- Decide COCATRAM’s actions and general policies, determine the structure and functions of its bodies and consider any matter related to the organization’s coexistence, such as its administrative and technical organization.
- Propose reforms of the special agreement to COMITRAN, when considered convenient.
- Approve provisions related to commercial transactions, public tenders, contracting and/or any other expenditure that exceeds the amounts established in COCATRAM’s internal regulations.
- Name the members of the Oversight Commission in line with what is established in these Statutes.
- Coordinate the contracting of External Audits when considered in COCATRAM’s interests and follow up on their reports.
- Issue guidelines and resolutions to ensure the body functions well.
- Determine honorary appointments.
- Monitor the suitability and capacity of COCATRAM’s executive and professional personnel and that they are selected on the basis of verifiable profiles of their skills and experience.
- Name and remove the Executive Director.
- Annually review the body’s five-year Strategic Plan.
- Implement the Annual Operating Plan.
- Other responsibilities conferred by the Constitutive Resolution and these Statutes.
Article 57.– The Oversight Commission is the second most important body in COCATRAM. Its mission is to oversee the body’s work and activities and that it duly complies with the Constitutive Resolution, these Statutes, the regulations and the Board of Directors’ agreements. For this purpose, it will have free access to all of the body’s installations, books and documents.
Article 58.– This Commission will be made up of three members, one of whom will be the Delegate or the Alternate Delegate acting as the Delegate from each of the body’s member countries, who will preside over the said Commission. The Presidency of the Oversight Commission will rotate every 12 months in the following order: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, as long the country is not serving as the President of the Board of Directors. The other members will be the Delegate or Alternate Delegate acting as the Delegate of the body’s host country and the Delegate or Alternate Delegate acting as the Delegate of one of the representatives of private Enterprise accredited in the Board of Directors. When the Delegate or Alternate Delegate acting as the Delegate of the host country is presiding over the Oversight Commission, a third Delegate will not be required.
Article 59.– The members of the Oversight Commission will be named every year in the ordinary meeting for transferring the Presidency. They will meet in the body’s headquarters when so determined by its members.
Members
Guatemala
José Fernando Suriano Buezo
Titular Director
Vice-Minister of Transportation of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing I Chairman of the Surveillance Committee
Werner Ovalle Ramírez
Alternate Director
Chairman of the Board - National Port Commission (CPN)
El Salvador
Nelson Reyes Rivas
Director
Vice-Minister of Transport MOP El Salvador
Omar Hernández Martínez
Director Alterno
Commander-in-Chief of the National Navy and Maritime Authority of El Salvador
Honduras
Sr. Bayardo Pagoada Figueroa
Director
Sub-Secretary of Transport INSEP
Sr. Edgar Soriano Ortiz
Alternate Director
Director General of the Merchant Navy
Nicaragua
Sr. Félix Granados Echegoyen
Titular Director
Vice Minister I Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure I Member of the Surveillance Committee
Sr. Manuel Mora
Alternate Director
Director General Aquatic Transport Directorate (MTI)
Costa Rica
Efraim Zeledón Leiva
President Pro Tempore - Titular Director
Vice-Minister of Infrastructure Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT)
Verny Jimenez Rojas
Alternate Director
General Director of the Maritime Port Division MOPT
Panamá
Designation Pending
Titular Director
Panama Maritime Authority
Sr. Ildefonso Suira Franco
Alternate Director
Sub-Director of the Legal Advice Office Panama Maritime Authority (AMP)
Private Enterprise
Sr. César Sandino
Director
Representative of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FECAMCO)
Sr. Julio Vidal
Alternate Director
Representative of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FECAMCO)
Sr. Medardo Galindo
Director
Representative of the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Exporters of Central American (FECAEXCA) - Member of the Surveillance Committee
Work Team
Otto G. Noack Sierra
Executive Director
GUATEMALA
José Dopeso
Director of Maritime and Port Affairs
PANAMÁ
Marcela M. Sánchez Brenes
Administrative and Financial Director
NICARAGUA
Hugo López Sánchez
Training Director
NICARAGUA
SICA’S INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE
The Central American Integration System (SICA) is the institutional framework for Central American regional integration, created by the States of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Later, Belize and the Dominican Republic joined as full members in 2000 and 2013, respectively. Its main objective is to implement Central America’s integration to establish it as a region of peace, liberty, democracy and development.
SICA was created on December 13, 1991, through the signing of the Protocol to the Charter of the Organization of Central American States (ODECA), or the Tegucigalpa Protocol. This Protocol reformed the ODECA Charter signed in Panama on December 12, 1962, and SICA formally started functioning on February 1, 1993. The headquarters of SICA’s General Secretariat, Central American House, is located in the Republic of El Salvador.
In 2010, the process of Central American integration was relaunched when the heads of state and government of SICA’s member countries identified the region’s priority areas: democratic security, climate change and comprehensive risk management, social integration, economic integration, and institutional capacity-building.
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SICA’s political structure is defined in the Tegucigalpa Protocol (PDF file).SICA’s political structure is defined in the Tegucigalpa Protocol (PDF file).
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SICA’s economic structure is defined in the Guatemala Protocol (PDF file).SICA’s economic structure is defined in the Guatemala Protocol (PDF file).
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