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Colombia To Host Sixth Summit of Americas
The Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday unanimously agreed that Colombia hosts the sixth Summit of the Americas in two or three years' time.
Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez formally presented his nation's proposal on Wednesday, the second and final day of the OAS's 39th general assembly in Honduran industrial city San Pedro Sula. Paraguay had formally withdrawn its candidacy earlier at the meeting.
The fifth OAS summit was held on April 17-19 in Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
Foreign ministers from 34 nations attended the general assembly, which began on Tuesday. The only nation absent was Cuba, which was barred from the organization in 1962, although it is still officially a member.
Bermudez said his nation will be a good host, but said it had not decided which Colombian city will host the summit. The previous summits were held in the U.S. city of Miami, the Canadian city of Quebec, Argentine city of Mar del Plata and Trinidad's capital Port of Spain.
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The Summit You Didn't See
There Was More to the Summit of the Americas than Obama's Handshake with Chavez: Even before the start of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this month, U.S. President Barack Obama began a new chapter in his county’s relations with Latin America.
In the United States, headlines from the recently concluded Summit of the Americas focused intensely on President Barack Obama's easing of restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba and his hearty handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But U.S.-Latin American relations were not the only pressing topic during the meeting of the region’s 34 leaders: Latin America is focusing its attention on overcoming the current economic crisis and avoiding any chance of another lost decade like the one it experienced during the 1980s. Juan José Toribio, a professor at the IESE Business School and executive director of the International Monetary Fund from 1996-1998, and Riordan Roett, a professor in the international relations program at the Instituto de Empresa Business School, spoke with Universia Konwledge@Wharton about the political and economic realities of the region. >>> Go to Full Interview >>>
Leaders welcome results of Americas summit
Latin American leaders and officials hailed the results of the fifth Summit of the Americas that ended here Sunday despite a last-minute disagreement over the signing of a declaration. Five nations from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) -- Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Dominica and Honduras -- refused to sign the final declaration of the meeting as they wanted Cuba, also a member of the ALBA, to attend the next summit. The secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, ruled out earlier media reports that Cuba, which was excluded from the OAS in the 1960s, had proposed to host the next summit, saying the issue would be decided in Honduras when OAS holds its general meeting in June. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was among those that refused to sign the declaration, also considered the meeting a success.
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