Summit of the Americas, Summit Implementation Review Group

(San Salvador, El Salvador, May 5, 1995)

Chairman's Report

I. Venue

The second meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group took place in San Salvador, El Salvador on may 5, 1995.

II. Participants

Countries represented at the meeting were Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The delegate of Belize represented the CARICOM countries. Representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the Pan American Health Organization and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean also participated. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Alexander F. Watson chaired the meeting.

III. Agenda

The agenda for the meeting is contained in annex b.

IV. Consideration of draft Foreign Ministers' Report

The Group had before it a draft Foreign Ministers' report prepared by the Summit Coordinating Office based on the implementation reports prepared by governments and international organizations as agreed at the Review Group's March 6 meeting. The draft was extensively discussed during two separate readings.

A number of delegates suggested that the specific examples of summit implementation activities contained in the original draft should be placed in an annex rather than in the main body of the report. It was agreed that all countries would submit to the Summit Coordinating Office no later than May 15 up to three examples of implementation activities for possible inclusion in this annex. Individual reports from countries and international organizations would be contained in a second annex.

A revised version of the draft Foreign Ministers' report is contained in annex c.

The Group agreed to reconvene May 26 in Washington to complete work on the draft Foreign Ministers' report.

V. Nature and organization of the Summit Review meeting in Haiti

The Group agreed that, within the logistical and time constraints inherent in the Foreign Ministers' summit review scheduled for June 4 in Haiti, it would be desirable to provide as much time as possible for open discussion of summit implementation. The following agenda for the Haiti meeting was thus endorsed:

1. Chairman's introductory statement and presentation of Foreign Ministers' report

2. Statements by representatives of sub-regional groups (5 minutes each)

3. Statement by OAS Secretary General Gaviria (5 minutes)

4. Open discussion period (30 minutes)

5. Closing remarks in connection with agenda item 2, it was agreed that each geographical sub-group would choose a spokesperson in advance of the June 4 meeting. Each spokesperson would speak on one of the four themes in the Plan of Action' focusing primarily on future implementation strategies and activities. The sub-groups would inform the Summit Coordinating Office by May 15 of their theme preferences in rank order, and each sub-group would be assigned a theme as close to its first preference as possible.

VI. Future program of work

The Group had an extensive discussion of its future program of work. It was generally agreed that it would be desirable at future meetings to undertake thorough discussion of a selected group of issues. A proposal for individual governments or groups of governments to take responsibility for individual action items as "Responsible Coordinators" was widely praised.

The Group agreed to continue its discussion of its future work program at its meeting May 26.

VII. Future meetings

In addition to its resumed session May 26, the Group agreed to schedule a future meeting in September 1995 at a location to be determined later.

VIII. Press statement

The Group agreed to issue the press statement included in Annex D

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