AG/DEC. 36 (XXXIV-O/04) DECLARATION OF QUITO ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY, AND THE IMPACT OF CORRUPTION (Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 8, 2004) The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Delegation of the member states of the Organization of American States, assembled in Quito, Ecuador, on the occasion of the thirty-fourth regular session of the General Assembly, REITERATING that social development and democracy are essential purposes of the OAS and of its member states; RECALLING that the Inter-American Democratic Charter declares that the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it and, at the same time, it establishes that transparency in government activities, probity, and responsible public administration on the part of governments are essential components of the exercise of democracy; BEARING IN MIND that, since its inception, the Summits of the Americas process has been concerned with the fight against corruption and that this topic has warranted the attention of their Heads of State and Government; TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the Declaration of Santiago on Democracy and Public Trust: A New Commitment to Good Governance for the Americas [AG/DEC. 31 (XXXIII-O/03)] and resolution AG/RES. 1960 (XXXIII-O/03), “Program for Democratic Governance in the Americas”; UNDERSCORING the Declaration on Security in the Americas, in which corruption is recognized, from a multidimensional perspective, as a new threat to the security of states that undermines public and private institutions and public trust, causes grave economic damage, impairs stability, erodes the rule of law, and weakens governmental capacity to respond to other threats to security; RECALLING the mandate set forth in the Declaration of Nuevo León, adopted by the Special Summit of the Americas, which established a commitment to join efforts within the framework of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, particularly by strengthening the Follow-up Mechanism for Implementation of that Convention; REAFFIRMING their determination to continue to implement the Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas as well as the commitments undertaken in the United Nations Millennium Declaration; RECALLING that the United Nations Convention against Corruption (Mérida Convention) indicates that corruption is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies, making international cooperation to prevent and control it essential;