In Mexico City, several hundred engineers from all parts of the continent gathered at the 29th Pan-American Convention of Engineers, convened by UPADI, to attend the entity's government meetings and 13 (thirteen) Pan-American congresses on different aspects of engineering (some congresses so traditional that they have been held more than twenty times, such as energy and engineering education). They attended the Industrial Technology Show (UPADI 2004), listened to master lectures and made technical visits and considering that the solemn inauguration in this bicentennial architectural jewel.
Declaration of Mexico of 2004 Endorsed by the Pan-American Academy of Engineering
XXIX UPADI CONVENTION 2004
DECLARATION OF MEXICO
CONSIDERING
May the solemn inauguration in this bicentennial architectural jewel.
Palacio de Minería was enriched by the profound and enlightening messages of the President of UPADI, Mr. Claudio Amaury Dall'Acqua, the President of FMOI Dr. Ing. Lee Yee Cheong and the President of Mexico, Mr. Vicente Fox Quesada.
That Engineering has been the protagonist of the most intense and fruitful creation of goods and services in history, dominating or extracting resources from nature to put them at the service of man for his well-being.
That tremendous growth of assets, of which engineering has been one of the architects, is not homogeneous across the continent, with slow or halted growth in some regions and even pockets of poverty.
As President Dall'Acqua pointed out, the accentuation of the gap between economies that export primary production and developed economies.
That Mexican engineering, through the mouth of the President of the 29th Convention President of UMAI Ing. Raúl Apaulaza, offered the warmest welcome to the great continental engineering family that was deeply grateful for the reception and hospitality of the Engineers of Mexico and for their brilliant organization.
That the events of the 29th Convention highlighted the brilliant day of incorporation of plenary and corresponding members of the Pan-American Academy of Engineering, in a solemn ceremony, with a Presidium composed of the President of UPADI, President of FMOI, the President of the Mexican Academy of Engineering, the President of the Pan-American Academy of Engineering, Ing. Miguel Angel Yadarola, and Eng. Vladimir Yackoviev.
With this background, the 29th UPADI Convention formulates this. The laudable initiative extolled by President Fox to invite hundreds of the best engineering students in America to participate in the events of the continent's leading professionals must be continued at future conventions, rewarding those most successful in the study and bringing students closer to leading professionals.
University teachers must be encouraged to excel and continue education must be encouraged so that professionals can accompany the vertiginous growth of knowledge.
The deepening of the study of engineering, a vital factor in the development and happiness of peoples, is enlightening. Consideration should be given to the increasing incorporation of non-polluting energy sources.
We must maintain the objective of preserving nature, governing it and not preying on it, sticking to sustainable development. We need to think about strategic engineering, we must overcome the distortion between exporters of raw materials and exporters of value-added products.
Engineering can and must respond to the challenge of adding value to primary wealth to overcome the distortion of this work.
We must insist on maintaining a culture of maintenance and not underestimating conservation, which is what adds serviceability, useful life and economy to engineering investment.
The planet's great reserve, which is the riches of the oceans, must be studied in depth. The preservation and defense of the coasts will always be a reason for enlightened and persistent study.
As in this convention, we must preserve the study of hydrographic basins, chemical and petroleum engineering, information technology and telecommunications, mining and metallurgy, transport, civil engineering, and public infrastructure, which must not decay.
Studies on earthquake resistant structures must be deepened and applied, and engineering must be preserved and played a more prominent role in the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, of which the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are painful examples.
We must maintain the unity and affection of all Engineers in America. The Engineer must continuously perfect his professional knowledge and have the necessary role in society to apply it. But engineering wisdom is not enough. Let's follow Ortega y Gasset when he said:
“To be an engineer, it is not enough to be an engineer, because while you are doing your own work, history is removing the carpet under your feet, you have to be attentive, always looking at the landscape of life, which is total. The supreme faculty of living is not the heritage of any science: it is the synopsis of all.”
May this warning be summoned to us so that there are engineers who fulfill the most responsible roles in political and social life.
The training of engineers must not lack humanistic education, essential for the spiritual enrichment and preservation of the human being in the world that he must continue to cultivate throughout his professional life.
The engineer has a free spirit, and it is commendable that he lives and maintains his permanent faith in democracy. We renew and exalt our adherence to what the great forerunner Montesquieu said in the 18th century: “The foundation of democracy is virtue”.
COMPLEMENTARY RECOMMENDATIONS
The UPADI Member Organizations, meeting in Mexico City, from September 20 to 24, 2004, make the following recommendations to the different governments of America:
- The UPADI Member Organizations, meeting in Mexico City, from September 20 to 24, 2004, make the following recommendations to the different governments of America:
- The XXIX UPADI Convention supports the efforts of the FMOI - World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) as a leader of the Scientific and Technological Community
- in the Committee of the World Summit on the Information Society.
- The XIXX UPADI Convention recognizes the need to make efforts on the part of all social, political and economic actors to promote the development of the Information Society in each and every country in the world, under conditions of symmetry and equal opportunities, without discrimination of any kind based on social, economic or political conditions.
- The XXIX Pan-American Convention UPADI 2004 recognizes the indispensable need for road communication between Panama and Colombia to be built as soon as possible, in the sector called Yaviza-Palo de Letras-Tapón del Darién, according to the most convenient technological and environmental alternative because the mitigation of environmental and social impacts will be followed, thus fulfilling the centenary desire for permanent terrestrial communication throughout America; and recommends to the governments of the United States of North America, Colombia and Panama will provide the appropriate financial resources in a timely manner for its prompt implementation.
- The XXIX UPADI Convention recognizes and recommends, because of its importance in the integration between the Argentine Republic and its neighboring Republic of Chile, the road work through the International Black Water Crossing, which, including a tunnel, will connect La Serena (Chile) with San Juan (Argentina) and as part of a Bioceanic Corridor between the ports of Coquimbo (Pacific Chile) and Porto Alegre (Brazil-Atlántico), passing through the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Córdoba and San Juan.
UPADI - PAN AMERICAN UNION OF ENGINEERING ASSOCIATIONS
UPADI — PAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS ORGANIZATIONS
UPADI — PAN-AMERICAN UNION OF ENGINEERS' ASSOCIATIONS
