- 13 - BEARING IN MIND the report of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs transmitting recommendations with regard to the Deloitte & Touche Management Study of the Operations of the General Secretariat - Final Report (CP/CAAP-2699/04 rev. 1) and resolution AG/RES. 2017 (XXXIV-O/04), “Modernization of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States; and HAVING SEEN the distribution of professionals by grade and gender appended to the report of the General Secretariat to the Permanent Council on the appointment of women to senior management positions at the OAS, RESOLVES: 1. To urge the Secretary General to: a. Achieve by 2005 the goal of having women occupy 50 percent of posts at each grade level within the OAS organs, agencies, and entities, particularly at the P-5 grade level and above, in order to achieve gender balance at all levels in the OAS, bearing in mind the criterion of geographic distribution in professional positions; b. Continue to make gender equity and equality, which includes equal opportunities for men and women at all grade levels, one of the priorities in his efforts to establish a new institutional culture in the Organization; c. Continue his work to establish policies of gender equality in the workplace and to make each manager accountable for the application of these policies; d. Appoint women as representatives and special envoys to represent the Secretary General in matters relating to all areas and sectors; and e. Take into account the objective of gender balance and the criterion of geographic representation when filling vacancies in the OAS, especially positions of higher authority. 2. To request the Secretary General to take this resolution into account when preparing his Restructuring Plan, taking into consideration also the Deloitte & Touche Management Study of the Operations of the General Secretariat - Final Report, the recommendations of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) with regard to that report, and the results of the June 21 and 22 closed meeting called to reflect on the role the OAS should play in the Hemisphere and on how the General Secretariat should be organized to support that role. 3. To urge all member states to support the efforts of the Secretary General and of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) by identifying and, through their permanent missions to the OAS, regularly submitting the candidacies of, the most highly-qualified women to occupy positions of trust within the OAS, and to encourage more women to apply for vacant positions, which will have been widely publicized in all member states.