After being circulated among participants in the Non-Governmental Process for the Community of Democracies, the Country Assessments report has been finalized.

The purpose of the report is to help the Convening Group make decisions on which governments should be invited to the third Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies and in what category (full participant, observer or non-invitee). The study compiles and evaluates reporting from a variety of national and international sources, including intergovernmental, civil society and media reports, and reaches conclusions based on the criteria for participation of governments adopted by the Convening Group.

The invitation process is a critically important way in which the Convening Group can demonstrate its determination to uphold the commitments made in the Warsaw Declaration and Seoul Plan of Action and ensure continued progress at the Santiago meeting.

The report was produced by the Democracy Coalition Project in collaboration with Freedom House as part of the work that they have been doing as part of the Global Issues Group and used the criteria established at the second Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies in Seoul, as well as the Convening Group’s criteria paper as a basis for determining the appropriate status for countries.

The full report can be found at http://www.santiago2005.org/html/issues.html or at http://www.demcoalition.org/html/globa_cd.html.