The Summits of the Americas are periodic meetings of Heads of State and Government of the sovereign states of the Americas that have taken place every three years on average since 1994 to address shared political issues, affirm common values, and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional levels to address present and future challenges facing the region.
Nine Summits and two Special Summits of the Americas have taken place:
The participants of the Summits of the Americas Process are the Heads of State and Government of the hemisphere and their delegations. In addition, the heads of the institutions of the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG)participate as observers. The institutions comprising the JSWG are: the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Special guests include representatives of civil society organizations, youth, indigenous peoples, workers, academia, and the private sector among others.
The next Summit of the Americas will be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in 2025.
The Summits of the Americas Process is continuous and cyclical, encompassing the preparatory phase, the high-level meeting, and the follow-up and implementation phase of the mandates of each Summit. To analyze and discuss the problems and challenges facing the Americas and thus find joint solutions. The Summit Process is a "commitment to hemispheric integration and national and collective responsibility, in order to improve the economic well-being and security of our peoples." (Quebec Summit Declaration).
The Chair of the Summits of the Americas Process is the host country of the next Summit, or alternatively, the last Summit.
The decisions made at the Summits of the Americas are made by consensus, and are the result of negotiations that take place within the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) .
The States participating in the Summits Process, represented by their National Summit Coordinators, make up the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG). The SIRG is the political body responsible for following up on Summit mandates, coordinating Summit agendas and preparing for future Summits. The SIRG meets an average of three times a year: once at the ministerial level, and twice at the level of the National Summit Coordinators.
The Summits of the Americas discuss a wide range of political, economic and social issues that are introduced by the various actors in the Summits Process and reflect hemispheric priorities.
The Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) is part of the institutional mechanisms of the Summits of the Americas Process and serves as the institutional memory and technical secretariat of the Summits of the Americas Process. In this capacity, it advises and assists the Chair of the Process and the States in all phases of the Summits Process. It is the technical secretariat of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), the main executing body of the Summit Process. It also fosters strategic alliances and coordinates the participation of the international, regional and inter-American system entities that make up the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) in support of state implementation efforts; and strengthens and promotes the participation of civil society and social actors, and other interested sectors, in the Summits of the Americas Process. The Summits Secretariat was established as a result of a mandate from the Second Summit of the Americas (Santiago, 1998) in which the Heads of State and Government mandated the OAS to serve as the institutional memory and technical secretariat of the Summits of the Americas Process.
In all phases of the Summits Process, regional and international organizations provide technical advice in their areas of competence and financial support to the governments of the region. In addition, through the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG), chaired by the OAS, the institutions coordinate their support activities and report on their actions in the implementation of mandates.
The Summits of the Americas Process initially began as a process of negotiation between governments and has evolved to incorporate diverse social actors. Today, the Summits Secretariat facilitates various channels of participation in all phases of the Summits Process, including: conversations, dialogues with government representatives, national and regional consultations, training workshops, policy dialogues, among others. These activities are promoted on the Summits Secretariat’s social networks and are open to representatives of civil society organizations and social actors, such as indigenous peoples, youth, the private sector, labor unions, academia, among others.
You can obtain information through this website, which is the official information source for the Summit Process and compiles its institutional memory. You may also request additional information by email: [email protected] or via the following mailing address: Summits of the Americas Secretariat Organization of American States 1889 F St., N.W. Washington, D.C. United States, 20006.
Website: www.summit-americas.org
The Summits of the Americas Secretariat offers a limited number of non-paid internships to undergraduate and graduate students from different universities in the Americas. Internship applications should be sent to OAS Internship Program and should specify that you are applying for an internship at the OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat.