What is the Summit of the Americas?

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.

      FINAL VERSION OF THE SUMMIT  DECLARATION         (ENGLISH / ESPAÑOL)

     FINAL VERSION OF THE SUMMIT  PLAN OF ACTION     (ENGLISH / ESPAÑOL)

The Summit Process

• First Summit of the Americas                  (Miami, Florida 1994)
• Summit on Sustainable Development       (Santa Cruz, Bolivia 1996)
• Second Summit of the Americas             (Santiago, Chile, 1998)
• Third Summit of the Americas                 (Quebec City, Canada, 2001)
• Special Summit of the Americas             (Monterrey, Mexico, 2004)
• Fourth Summit of the Americas               (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2005)

Civil Society 

Civil Society organizations (CSOs) are needed to help monitor and implement past Summit initiatives.  Corporación PARTICIPA, with the help of the Regional Coordinator for Economic and Social Research (CRIES), the Universidad de Los Andes, FLACSO Chile, FOCAL, and Esquel, coordinated a "Strategy for the Civil Society Follow-Up of the Quebec Plan of Action."  This project was initiated to strengthen the network of CSOs and help them monitor and influence governments at the national and regional level in order to help implement Summit initiatives.