America Summit
The America Summit (seldom Summit of the Americas as a literal translation of the original names English Summit of the Americas , Spanish Cumbre de las Américas , port. Cúpula das Américas , French Sommet des Amériques ) are irregular meetings of heads of state and government of the Caribbean, North, Central and South American countries to discuss current problems, their solutions and visions for a joint development of the region. The most important subject of the summit process up to 2005 was the formation of a pan-American free trade area (FTAA).
The summit process is now accompanied by common political principles and institutional mechanisms. One of the political principles is that only democratic states with free market economies are allowed to take part in the talks - so Cuba will remain excluded for the time being.
aims
The 34 (meanwhile with Cuba 35) participating in the summits show big differences economically, culturally and legally. In this respect, the summit has extremely heterogeneous goals.
Two groups of participants at the summits can be roughly distinguished:
- the “north”: the USA and Canada as industrialized and comparatively prosperous countries
- the "south": the rest of the Latin American and Caribbean states
Canada and above all the USA hope that the integration process will give them free access to the large Latin American markets ( Brazil , Argentina, etc.). They see this as threatened as a result of internal South American efforts ( Mercosur ). Other important goals of the "North" are:
- more influence in the fight against drugs
- more influence in the fight against crime
- Securing democracy and a market economy in Latin America (including further isolation of Cuba)
- Prevent further large immigration flows from south to north
Depending on the government, there are also environmental protection and human rights goals.
The goals of a large part of the Latin American states are opposed to this:
- financial support
- Free access to the North American markets (especially for raw materials and agricultural goods )
- greater investment by North American companies in southern countries
- Support in the fight against underdevelopment and its consequences ( illiteracy , crime , environmental pollution , corruption , drugs ...)
Because of this heterogeneity of objectives , it is not surprising that the objectives of the summit are still very broad. Of course, this slows down the degree of target achievement, but it will likely remain the only option for multilateral cooperation on the American double continent for the foreseeable future.
Institutional framework
General
From the first summit meeting of all American states in 1994 , the so-called “summit process”, ie an integration process, has developed. However, there is still talk of the “summit”, since the talks between the 34 states still lack a clear institutional framework: there is no organization comparable to the EU that is driving the integration process forward.
The only firmly institutionalized framework is so far
- the secretariat of the summit process housed at the OAS
- the Steering Committee
- the Executive Council
The most important anchor of the summit process, however, are still the summit meetings themselves; It is their narrow time horizon that enables progress. The example of the EU shows that important decisions can often be made shortly before or even during government meetings.
(For more see below)
The OAS and the Summit Process
The preparations for the first summit in Miami took place without the influence of the OAS. At the summit itself, however, the OAS was given mediation tasks where the heads of state and government could not agree.
The OAS was already actively involved in the preparation of the second summit. It provided the summit with purely technical support and was called in as an intermediary in almost all areas of the discussion. To this end, the OAS organized a series of discussion meetings in various specialist areas. The summit itself finally called the OAS to institutional memory of the summit process .
The organization played a similar role at the third summit. There the OAS was finally given the institutional task of secretariat for the summit process . This newly created secretariat fulfills the following tasks:
- Coordination and implementation of the mediation tasks of the OAS
- Support for ministerial and sectoral meetings
- Support from SIRG, Executive Council and Steering Committee
- Preparation of the next summit
history
Early summits
In 1956 the heads of state and government of 19 American states met for a meeting in Panama City . In a declaration from Panama , the participants called for joint efforts to promote human rights and living standards. The summit led to the creation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Eleven years later, 19 heads of state and government met again in Punta del Este ( Uruguay ) in 1967 . In a declaration by the President of America , the politicians set themselves the goal of overcoming social differences and instabilities in the region. In addition, a common market should be created by 1980 , in which the USA should (for the time being) not participate.
First Summit (Miami, USA)
In 1994 , then US President Clinton proposed a joint summit for all democratic states in America. In bilateral talks with various Latin American heads of state, the USA attempted to ensure that a declaration and an action plan could be adopted at the summit itself.
All 34 democratically elected heads of state and government, members of the Organization of American States (OAS), attended the meeting in Miami . In a joint declaration, all states committed themselves to promoting democracy and promoting prosperity through economic integration and free trade.
In a Miami Plan of Action they set themselves 22 goals - including fighting drugs, fighting corruption, terrorism and pollution.
Perhaps the most important objective of the Miami summit, however, was one of the Americas by 2005 Free Trade Area ( FTAA to realize, Free Trade Area of the Americas).
Second summit (Santiago de Chile)
In April 1998 , 34 heads of state and government met again for the follow-up summit in Santiago de Chile . In contrast to the Miami Summit, the agenda for the Santiago Summit was prepared jointly by all 34 countries.
The joint declaration and a second action plan were prepared for the first time as part of a Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) . In addition, the OAS was made responsible for being the “institutional memory of the summit process” and thus putting unfinished goals back on the agenda. Through these two measures, the summit process was further institutionalized.
However, hardly any tangible results were agreed at the Santiago Summit. Again there was a hard-to-grasp joint declaration, and again a comprehensive action plan was adopted, which in total contained 27 initiatives that could hardly be achieved.
The most important result of the summit was the continuation of the FTAA process: The heads of state and government agreed on balanced, understandable, transparent and WTO- compliant negotiations in this regard . Furthermore, the different development levels and sizes of the countries should be taken into account in the negotiations.
Third Summit (Québec, Canada)
The third summit in Québec in 2001 was already planned through largely institutionalized mechanisms. The four organizations were already working in the run-up to the summit
- Inter-American Development Bank (IAB)
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
- Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG)
Proposals for the joint declaration by the heads of state and government and the action plan. The most important point of the political declaration was the preparation of an inter-American democracy charter .
As a result of the Québec Summit, the institutional mechanisms were also adapted. Instead of the "Troika" made up of IAB, OAS and ECLAC, a steering committee should be responsible for preparing summit meetings. Past and future summit hosts should belong to this committee. The newly introduced Executive Council should include Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Canada , Mexico , the USA and a representative each from Central America , CARICOM , the Rio Group and the Andean Community .
Special Summit in Monterrey, Mexico
On 12 and 13 January 2004, a special summit in was Mexican Monterrey instead. The aim of the special summit was to improve cooperation based on current economic, social and political changes. The special summit was found necessary because about a third of the American state governments had been newly formed since the last summit in Québec.
Fourth Summit (Mar del Plata, Argentina)
In November 2005 , during the summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina, there were strong protests and, in some cases, riots, particularly against George W. Bush . The start of the all-American free trade area FTAA called for by the USA failed due to opposition from some Latin American states, including all Mercosur member states .
Fifth Summit (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago)
The fifth summit took place in April 2009 in Port of Spain . The host was Trinidad and Tobago , guests were heads of state and government from all states on the American continents except Cuba . The main topic was the global economic crisis . One of the reasons why the event received increased attention was that for many of those involved it was their first meeting with US President Barack Obama, who had only recently taken office . The participants could not agree on a joint final declaration. The ALBA states Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua refused to give their consent because of what they considered to be one-sided criticism of Cuba in this paper.
During the summit, Obama promised Cuba a "fresh start" in relations with the United States and tried to improve relations with Venezuela and its President Hugo Chavez . The two states sent ambassadors to the other country as a result of the meeting after the then ambassadors had been expelled from the country seven months earlier during the tenure of the previous US President George W. Bush .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ America summit nourishes hope for a “new beginning” , dw-world.de (Deutsche Welle), April 19, 2009
- ↑ Latin America stands behind Cuba at the OAS summit: acid tests for Obama , taz.de, April 20, 2009
- ^ America Summit: Resistance to Final Document, amerika21.de, April 17, 2009
- ^ OAS - Obama promises equal partnership , focus.de, April 18, 2009
- ↑ Venezuela and USA are exchanging ambassadors again , report on rp-online.de, April 19, 2009