Summits of the Americas

The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG)

The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), is the core management body of the Summits Process and is comprised of government officials of the countries of the hemisphere, which are represented in the SIRG by their appointed National Coordinators.

The SIRG was created in 1995 and is presided over by the Chair of the Summit of the Americas Process. The United States as the host of the IX Summit, held in Los Angeles in 2022, is the current Chair of the SIRG.

The SIRG meets on average 3 times a year, with at least one meeting held at the Ministerial level. The SIRG is responsible for reporting annually to the Foreign Ministers on progress achieved in the fulfillment of Summit mandates. The Ministers review the information on the occasion of the Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly.

Initially, the SIRG was composed of members representing the various sub-regions of the Western Hemisphere. Later, it was composed of representatives from all of the countries in the Hemisphere. At the Quebec Summit in 2001, the SIRG and its Executive Council were charged with the responsibility of following-up, together with the support of the OAS Office of Summit Follow Up, which became the Secretariat of the Summit Process.

The Summit coordination has two central advisory bodies:

  1. The 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. 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 Council include the United States, Bolivia, Chile, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Trinidad & Tobago, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Brazil, and countries designated on behalf of CARICOM, the Andean Community, Central America, and the Rio Group.

The institutions of the Joint Summit Working Group, 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), CAF - Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Organization for Migrations (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) provide technical support to the SIRG.