Introduction to the Summits of the Americas Process

A review of the Summit Process:

• Introduction

• Brief History of the Modern Summit Process

  • Early Summits

  • The Modern Summit Process

  • Preparatory Stage of the Summit of the Americas

  • Miami, Florida: First Summit of the Americas

  • Santa Cruz, Bolivia: Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development

  • Santiago, Chile: Second Summit of the Americas

  • Quebec City, Canada: Third Summit of the Americas

  • Special Summit of the Americas

• Summit of the Americas Follow-Up Mechanisms

  • Summit Implementation Review Group / Executive Council / Steering Committee

  • Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management

  • National Follow-Up Mechanisms

  • International Organizations

• The OAS in the Summit Process

  • Secretariat for the Summit Process

Other links related to the Summit process

Publications of the Secretariat for the Summit Process

I. Introduction

The Summit of the Americas brings together the Heads of State and Government of the Western Hemisphere to discuss common concerns, seek solutions and develop a shared vision for their future development of the region, be it economic, social or political in nature. 

The process is guided by shared political principles and established institutional mechanisms.  The political principles of the process dictate that the process shall include the 34 democratic nations of the Americas, who operate with free market economies, conduct multilateral international negotiations and who reach decisions by consensus.  The institutional  mechanisms are the bodies in charge of leading the process, decision-making, implementation and follow-up.

This section takes us through a brief history of Summitry and outlines the events of the Summit process from 1994 to 2002, from the preparations for the First Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, USA to the Third Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City, Canada.  It also provides an overview of the various institutional bodies and briefly describes the role of the OAS in the Summit process.

II. Brief History of the Modern Summit Process

Early Summits

Two Presidential Summits were held in the years prior to Miami.   The first, in July of 1956, brought the leaders of 19 countries together under the auspices of the Organization of American States at Panama City, Panama.  It was hoped the Summit would invigorate the OAS as a driving force for economic and social development in the Americas.  The representatives meeting in Panama undertook the following action:

The second Summit, held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in April of 1967, also brought together 19 Hemispheric leaders, plus a representative from Haiti.

Their aim was to strengthen the Alliance for Progress, President Kennedy's initiative to promote development and peaceful relations in the Americas.  The leaders were motivated by the desperate social and economic conditions which threatened to create instability in many parts of the Hemisphere.   Although the United States held meetings to develop the agenda of the Summit, the OAS guided the consultative process and co-hosted the event with Uruguay. The Conference produced the Declaration of the Presidents of America, which was signed by 19 of the 20 countries attending.  The Declaration set numerous goals, including: the creation of a Latin American Common Market, not to involve the United States, by 1980, and multilateral cooperation in infrastructure development, agriculture, arms control, and education.

Right:  Heads of delegations, including US President Lyndon B. Johnson, during deliberations at Punta del Este in 1967

Unfortunately, the 1967 vision for hemispheric free trade south of the United States was not achieved, and the development plan was never fully implemented.

Twenty seven years later, in Miami, auspicious historic conditions existed for the Governments of the Americas to once again meet.  The end of the Cold War brought forth a new era of consensus and understanding at a time when important problems, now less ideological and more concrete, continued to confront the peoples of the continent.

The Modern Summit Process

Reorganizing Inter-American relations, by adapting debates and procedures to the new political, economic and social conditions of the world and the region, was one of the fundamental objectives of the modern hemispheric Summit process initiated in Miami in 1994.

The existence of new players and a common understanding on political and economic principles based on the tenets of democracy and market economy made possible unprecedented political cooperation and economic integration in the Hemisphere, from Canada to Argentina and Chile.

The Heads of State and Government of the Americas, the architects of this new system, decided to meet on a regular basis in order to define the fundamental precepts of the new Hemispheric agenda. This decision to institutionalize the meetings led to the notion of a "Summit process", where experiences are accumulated, a common language is forged and mandates for collective action are programmed, systematizing the new theoretical and practical references in hemispheric relations.  This institutionalization had been lacking during the Cold War Summits which were organized on an ad hoc basis.

The new era in hemispheric relations is characterized by the revitalization of multilateralism which acts as a catalyst for the modernization of the various institutions of the Inter-American system, including the principal political forum, the Organization of American States.

Preparatory Stage of the Summit of the Americas (1994):

In January of 1994, President Clinton proposed to organize a Presidential Summit in the United States, in order to discuss the following matters:

• Democratic principles and values; strengthening of institutions.
• Common strategies in the consolidation of democracy, expansion of commerce and increased integration.
• Mechanisms that enssure the benefits of democracy and economic reform.
• New relationships to overcome obstacles to development.
• Integration and reinforcement of existing hemispheric institutions.

In March of the same year,  US Vice-President Al Gore, on a visit to Mexico, announced President Clinton’s desire to host a Summit in Miami in December of 1994.  The following issues were placed on the table for discussion at Miami:

• Consolidation of democracy, efficient procedures and related matters such as the fight against drug trafficking.
• Growth and prosperity - growth of trade, mutual benefits, better labor conditions and protection of the environment.
• Social matters: poverty, health, education, and the creation of jobs.

During the first semester of 1994, the United States undertook bilateral consultations in order to develop a Declaration and a Plan of Action for the Summit.  During the following months, inter-governmental meetings were held and many international organizations contributed documents and suggestions that were considered by the organizers and participants of the Summit.  In the case of the OAS, the Permanent Council, jointly with the Secretary General, prepared a paper outlining possible contributions of the OAS to the Summit of the Americas.

While inter-governmental consultations in preparation for the Summit continued, the Rio Group met in October of 1994.  The Group's members agreed to present a multilateral proposal, achieved by consensus, for the Miami Plan of Action.  This led  the coordinators of the 34 OAS member States to meet, in late November at Airlie House, Virginia, in order to agree upon the final documents.  It is important to highlight the significance of this meeting as it was the first time in the Summit preparations that representatives of the 34 countries sat at the same table in order to discuss and negotiate, under equal conditions, the commitments of the Plan of Action that would be approved by all the participant Summit countries. 

Miami, Florida: First Summit of the Americas

The First Summit of the Americas took place in Miami, December 9 to 11, 1994.  The meeting produced a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action signed by all 34 Heads of State and Government in attendance.  It is important to note that it was the first Summit were all of the leaders were democratically elected, and the first Summit to include Canada, and the island States of the Caribbean. 

The Declaration of Principles established a pact for development and prosperity based on the preservation and strengthening of the community of democracies of the Americas. The document sought to expand prosperity through economic integration and free trade; to eradicate poverty and discrimination in the Hemisphere; and to guarantee sustainable development while protecting the environment. The Miami Plan of Action contained the following initiatives, grouped into the following 22 themes:

Negotiations of the FTAA

One of the most important initiatives to emerge from the Miami Summit was the agreement to work towards creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).  The FTAA would provide free market access for goods and services to the entire continent.  It was decided that negotiations for an FTAA should conclude no later than 2005.  In order to realize this ambitious trade agreement, a Tripartite Committee, composed of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), was created to provide technical support for the negotiation process.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia: Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development  

Another important initiative from the Miami Summit was the inclusion of a proposal from the President of Bolivia, Gonzálo Sánchez de Lozada, to call a specialized Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia in 1996. The objectives of the specialized Summit were to establish a common vision for the future according to the concepts of sustainable development and to ratify the principles subscribed to at the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The long and complex multilateral negotiations included input from an important contingent of civil society organizations.  These, under the leadership of a Technical Committee, produced a proposal for sustainable development which was presented to the OAS member States for consideration and discussion.  The proposal was the fruit of a series of broad national and subregional consultations.  It is important to highlight both the participation of the OAS and Civil Society in the preparatory work for the Bolivian Summit. The OAS Working Group in charge of preparing the documents for the Summit, held, for the first time in the Organization, a working session where civil society organizations were invited to participate in the Summit's preparatory process.

The negotiations over the eventual Declaration and Plan of Action of Santa Cruz were complex due to the very different positions held concerning the concept of Sustainable Development.  On one hand, some countries insisted on the importance of the environment as an independent issue.  Other countries suggested incorporating the environmental dimension within a vision for integral development.   Reconciliation of these two points of view through consensus produced the Declaration and the Plan of Action of Santa Cruz on December 7 and 8, 1996.  The Plan of Action included initiatives in the following areas: Health and Education; Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry; Sustainable Cities and Communities; Water Resources and Coastal Areas; and Energy and Minerals.

The general consensus on the concept of including economic, social and environmental elements within an understanding of sustainable development was perhaps the most important achievement of the Bolivian Summit.  Consensus was also reached on other issues such as a financial resources, technology transfers, division of responsibilities, cooperation and Biodiversity among others. 

Santiago, Chile: Second Summit of the Americas

Unlike the First (Miami) Summit of the Americas, which was convoked by President Clinton to engage with the countries of Latin America on the many issues of the Hemisphere, the decision to hold a Second Summit was jointly made by all the Heads of State and Government of the Americas. The Santiago Summit of the Americas was jointly prepared, discussed and approved by all the countries.  It is important to emphasize the active participation of sub-regional organizations such as that of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Rio Group.

The negotiations for a Declaration and a Plan of Action were carried out in the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) meetings with the support of the OAS, the IDB, the PAHO and ECLAC.  Emphasis was given to social policies and essential matters of the Inter-American agenda, such as how to consolidate and improve the quality of democracy, respect for human rights and the path to a Free Trade Area of the Americas, were also discussed.  The result of these deliberations produced a Declaration and Plan of Action of Santiago which contained 27 initiatives, each reflecting the common concerns of the different countries.  The initiatives were grouped into the following subjects:

• Education, the principal issue of the Summit;
• Preserving and Strengthening Democracy, Justice and Human Rights;
• Economic Integration and Free Trade;
• Eradication of Poverty and discrimination.

One of the initiatives in the Summit of the Americas Follow-Up section of the Plan of Action assigned the OAS responsibility to keep the "institutional memory of the [Summit] process" and for providing technical support to the SIRG.

Quebec City, Canada: Third Summit of the Americas

In 2000, with the implementation process still underway, the countries of the hemisphere began the preparations for the Third Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City, Canada, April 20-22, 2001.  The eighteen themes for the Summit were:

• Making Democracy Work Better

• Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

• Justice, Rule of Law and Security of the Individual

• Hemispheric Security

• Civil Society

• Trade, Investment and Financial Stability

• Infrastructure and Regulatory Environment

• Disaster Management

• Environmental Foundation for Sustainable Development

• Agriculture Management and Rural Development

• Labor and Employment

• Growth with Equity

• Education

• Health

• Gender Equality

• Indigenous Peoples

• Cultural Diversity

• Children and Youth

With a fully institutionalized process in place, the "troika" and the SIRG set about negotiating the draft texts of the Declaration and Plan of Action,based on these themes, which were adopted by the Heads of State and Government. These texts represent an agenda for the Americas for the next four years. The "troika" was established to provide leadership to the SIRG, and consisted of past and present hosts, the United States, Chile and Canada. 

The Quebec City Summit was notable both for its demonstration of the successes of the process to date as well as for its new challenges to the countries of the Americas to continue moving forward.  The most important issue from the political Declaration was the preparation of an Inter-American Democratic Charter to reinforce the OAS instruments for the active defense of representative democracy. The Charter was adopted on September 11, 2001, in Lima, Peru, in a Special General Assembly of the OAS.  On the institutional side, the "troika" system was abandoned and replaced with a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee consists of past and future host countries for the Summit process, the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Chile. The Executive Council is comprised of Canada, Chile, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, one representative from Central America, one representative from CARICOM, one representative from the Rio Group, and one representative from the Andean Community.  

Special Summit of the Americas

The Special Summit of the Americas took place in Monterrey, Mexico on January 12 - 13, 2004.  The Heads of State and Government in the Western Hemisphere gathered in a spirit of unity and cooperation to discuss issues of common concern to the peoples of the Americas and to further develop a shared agenda for the region. The idea to hold this Special Summit, grew out of an initiative of former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien.  Since the Quebec City Summit of 2001, one-third of the countries in the Americas gained new leadership, poverty was on the rise, with 44% of the population in Latin America, and the Caribbean living in poverty and economic growth was staggering. The Heads of State and Government met in Monterrey to advance the implementation of measures to combat poverty, to promote social development, to achieve economic growth with equity, and to strengthen governance in our democracies.

 The governments signed the Nuevo Leon Declaration which focused on three areas:

• Economic Growth with equity to reduce poverty
• Social Development
• Democratic Governance

In the area of Economic Growth with equity to reduce poverty, they made a commitment to implement macroeconomic policies; to create an enabling environment for the private sector such as reform and simplification of procedures to create new enterprises; to triplicate credits in 2007 to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises coming from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); and to reduce the costs of remittances, highlighting “the important role that trade plays in promoting sustained growth and economic development,” among others.

 In the Social Development area, the Heads of State recognized that the main challenge is the elimination of poverty, hunger and inequality.  They reiterated that a decisive factor for human development is education and committed to taking the appropriate measures to reduce the threat of HIV/AIDS.

In the area of Democratic Governance, the leaders of the Americas reiterated their commitment to guarantee full application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. They expressed as well their support for the Declaration of Santiago on Democracy and Citizens Confidence, their respect for the rule of law, the strengthening of political parties, and the defense of human rights. They also committed to fighting corruption and terrorism, and acknowledged the role of civil society in the design, execution and evaluation of public policies, among others.

III.  Summit of the Americas Follow-Up Mechanisms:

The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) was created in March 1995, with the purpose of coordinating and implementing the mandates of the Miami Plan of Action.  Initially, the SIRG was composed of members representing the various sub-regions of the Hemisphere, later it was composed of representatives from all of the countries in the Hemisphere.   In order to follow up on Summit mandates, countries were designated as Responsible Coordinators for each issue.  This mechanism was used until the Quebec City Summit, where the mandate for follow up was modified, abandoning the system of Responsible Coordinators was abandoned and the SIRG, and its Executive Council were charged with the responsibility of follow-up, together with the support of the OAS Office of Summit Follow Up, which became the Secretariat of the Summit Process. 

The Second Summit of the Americas laid the basis for the institutionalization of the Summit as a process, which has subsequently been established and consolidated in the Quebec City Summit.

1. The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG):

After its creation in 1995, the United States chaired the Summit Implementation Review Group, because it had been the host of the Miami Summit.  After March of 1997, Chile assumed the helm for hosting the Second Summit of the Americas; Canada, in turn, became the Chair and hosted the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001.  Argentina will be the next Chair of the SIRG as the next host of the Summit of the Americas. 

The SIRG meets on average 3 times a year, with at least one of their meetings held at the Ministerial level.  The SIRG is comprised of the 34 democratically elected governments of the hemisphere, which are represented in the SIRG by their appointed National Coordinators. The SIRG is responsible for reporting annually on the progress achieved in the fulfillment of the Plan of Action to the Foreign Ministers. The Ministers, then review the information on the occasion of the Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly. 

The Executive Council of the SIRG was created in the Quebec City Plan of Action as a regionally representative body whose role is to assess, strengthen and support the follow-up of Summit initiatives.  The members of the Executive Committee include Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Argentina, the United States, a country designated on behalf of CARICOM, a country designated on behalf of Andean Community, a country designated on behalf of Central America, and a country designated on behalf of the Rio Group.  For the first time on April 2, 2003 the SIRG was opened to civil society organization, to discuss and exchange information on the Summit of the Americas, Education, Hemispheric Security and Good Governance.

Deepening partnerships and coordination between the Summit process and its partner institutions, the OAS, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Organization for Migrations (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA), is yet another focus of the Council. 

The Permanent Steering Committee is composed of past, current and future Summit hosts.  The Steering Committee’s role is to assist the Summit Chair in preparing for SIRG meetings as well as the preparations for future Summits.

2. Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities:

The Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation (CISC) in OAS Activities is a parallel multilateral Summit follow-up mechanism that operates within the political structure of the OAS. It was previously known as the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management (CEGCI), but the Committee was modified by the Permanent Council at its meeting held on July 31, 2002.  When the Permanent Council decided to merge the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management (CEGCI) with the Committee on Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities, it became the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities (CISC), which is entrusted with the coordination of the activities assigned to the OAS by the Summits of the Americas, as well as with the participation of civil society organizations in OAS activities. The new Committee celebrated its first meeting on September 19, 2002. The Committee reports to the OAS General Assembly through the Permanent Council. Documents of the Special Commission are available here.

The picture below illustrates the multilateral follow-up mechanisms of the Summit process.

 

    c.   National Follow-up Mechanisms:

Implementation of the various Summit mandates from Miami, Santa Cruz, Santiago and Quebec City, implies work both at the international-multilateral level as well as at the national level.  As outlined above, multilateral action is reviewed both by the SIRG and the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities.  National programs are undertaken and reviewed individually by each country; information is provided to the SIRG.

Government ministries or departments throughout the hemisphere with their own Internet homepages are listed here.

   d.   International Organizations:

The Santiago Plan of Action states that international organizations, in accordance with Summit decisions, will have responsibilities in implementing the Summit process and the mandates of the process, as appropriate. In addition to the OAS, there are four principal multilateral organizations involved in implementing specific Summit issues. The organizations in question are the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank, (IDB) the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Bank (WB). The OAS would have the responsibility to operate as a registration mechanism, as the "institutional memory of the [Summit] Process and provide technical support to the SIRG".  

During the Third Summit of the Americas, these institutions (OAS, ECLAC, IDB, PAHO and WB) presented a joint hemispheric report of activities done in fulfillment of Santiago Summit mandates.   

The role of the institutions became more relevant after the Quebec Summit, whose Plan of Action urges the international organisms to coordinate their work and become involved in all stages of the Summit Process.  In response to this mandate, the international institutions (OAS, IDB, PAHO, ECLAC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, on June 21, 2001 with the objective of achieving a better coordination in support of implementation and follow-up of the Summit of the Americas mandates.  This Memorandum of Understanding established a Joint Summit Working Group. Since then the World Bank, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Cooperación Andina de Fomento (CAF) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) were invited to participate in this Joint Summit Working Group. In 2004, the International Organization for Migrations (IOM) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) requested their participation in the Joint Summit Working Group activities. In 2005, the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) requested their participation in the Joint Summit Working Group activities as well.    

This Joint Summit Working Group meets periodically to plan joint activities and exchange information on programs, projects and activities related to the fulfillment of the Quebec City Summit mandates.  The Secretariat for the Summit Process in  the OAS chairs and coordinates the activities of this Working Group.  

IV. The OAS in the Summit Process:

The preparation of the documents for the Miami Summit took place outside of the OAS.  The OAS Secretary General, however, attended the Miami Summit of the Americas and spoke about the importance of the Summit for inter-American relations and for building confidence among the countries and institutions of the inter-American system.  The Secretary General explained his vision for the OAS, where it would be reformed in order to adapt itself to the "new agenda and to the priorities set" by the dignitaries in the Summit of the Americas Declaration and Plan of Action, in order to be able to fulfill the tasks assigned. 

At the Miami Summit, the Heads of State and Government assigned mandates to the OAS in areas where very different positions existed among the participants.  These mandates included drugs, corruption, terrorism, hemispheric security, and sustainable development and environment.  The OAS accepted these mandates and incorporated them into its agenda on a priority basis.  

The Organization has taken part in the implementation of 13 of the 23 initiatives agreed upon at Miami.  A detailed description of the actions of the OAS in the implementation of the Plan of Action can be found in the "Report of the President of the Special Committee on Inter-American Summit Management on the actions of the OAS regarding the implementation and support of the the mandates of the Summit of the Americas" of December 1997.  

Subsequently, the OAS had an essential role in the preparation and celebration of the Summit on Sustainable Development, which took place in Bolivia.  At the request of the Bolivian government, the main negotiations on the Declaration and Plan of Action of the Summit on Sustainable Development were carried out at OAS headquarters with the support of the OAS as the Secretariat.  At the same time, the OAS was charged with important tasks in the follow up of these mandates.  The Secretary General of the OAS presented a detailed report on the progress made in the implementation of the Santa Cruz Plan of Action to the Heads of State and Government meeting at the Second Summit of the Americas.   

The OAS participated actively in the preparatory work for the Second Summit, providing technical support and organizing meetings in different fields such as education, science and technology, public participation, and drugs, among others.  The Santiago Summit entrusted the OAS with the implementation of a large part of the mandates in almost every area and, in particular, designated the OAS as the “institutional memory of the Summit process” and said it would lend technical support to the SIRG.  The OAS activities in fulfillment of these mandates are detailed in the “Fifth Report of the Special Commission on Inter-American Summits Management to the Ministers of Foreign Relations”.  

Since the Canadian government began preparations for the Third Summit of the Americas, the OAS has had a very active role in several areas.  The Secretary General participated in the negotiation meetings for the Third Summit’s Declaration and Plan of Action, and OAS experts in each thematic area assisted SIRG meetings, offering their technical support to governments.  Moreover, the Office of Summit Follow Up was entrusted with the management of the negotiated documents on its Web site and also organized negotiation meetings with the Canadian government and provided secretariat services throughout the entire preparatory process.  The Third Summit of the Americas designated the OAS, through its Office of Summit Follow Up, as the Secretariat of the Summit process.  At the same time, it has again entrusted the OAS with the implementation of various mandates from many of the action areas and has given it the responsibility of coordinating the efforts of international institutions in this area. 

This evolution of the participation of the OAS in the Summit process demonstrates the evolution of an OAS agenda and its conversion towards a singular inter-American agenda

Office of Summit Follow Up

As a result of the follow-up mandate of the Second Summit of the Americas, which assigns the OAS with the role of “institutional memory of the process” and to “provide technical support to the SIRG”, the OAS Secretary General created, in July 1998, the Office of Summit Follow Up (OSFU) through Executive Order No. 98-3. The Office acts as the institutional memory and Secretariat to the Summit of the Americas process, coordinates the support of the OAS in the implementation of Summit mandates, supports the Chair of the Summit process as well as the SIRG, its Executive Council and Steering Committee and Chairs the Joint Summit Working Group, comprised of the OAS, IICA, IDB, ECLAC, PAHO the World Bank, CAF and CABEI. The Office also manages the Summits of the Americas Information Network web site, which includes a secure site for government officials and negotiators.

Secretariat for the Summit Process

At the Quebec City Summit of the Americas, the Heads of State and Government recognized the central role that the OAS performs in support of the Summits of the Americas process, commending the Organization for its work as the technical secretariat and the institutional memory of the process.  To formalize this role, the OAS Secretary General signed Executive Order No. 02-03 on May 31, 2002, which strengthens the responsibilities of the Office of Summit Follow Up and renamed it the Secretariat for the Summit Process (SG/SSP).  Under this new title, the Secretariat will continue to coordinate the implementation of Summit mandates in the OAS and provide support to: ministerial and sectoral meetings; the SIRG and it's Executive Council and Steering Committee as well as the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities; and in the preparations for the next Summit of the Americas.  At the same time, it will continue to coordinate the participation of civil society in the Summit process and in the OAS.

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*  The 34 Summit of the Americas nations are the same as the 34 member States of the Organization of American States (the 35th OAS member State, Cuba, has been suspended since 1962).  The countries are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

(Note:  The photographs and paragraphs on the 1959 and 1967 Summits are from "Building a Partnership for Prosperity", the White House Report on the Summit of the Americas.)