Miami, Florida, United States (1994)
Key themes
Strengthening democracy, promoting economic prosperity, eradicating poverty and discrimination, and guaranteeing sustainable development.
Notable highlights
President Bill Clinton drew global attention when he announced that the United States would help establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005.
The summit marked deeper engagement by the United States and Canada, underscoring a broader commitment to hemispheric coordination.
Anti-corruption commitments led to the negotiation and adoption of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
Santiago, Chile (1998)
Key themes
Promoting quality education, strengthening democracy and human rights, and eradicating poverty.
Notable highlights
The creation of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) formalized the summit process ahead of the Second Summit of the Americas, committing leaders to regular, periodic meetings.
Negotiations began on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, with the hope that concrete progress would be achieved by the end of the century.
To safeguard freedom of thought and expression across the Americas, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights established the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression.
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2009)
Key themes
Advancing human prosperity, energy security, environment sustainability, and social safety nets.
Notable highlights
President Barack Obama proposed the Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas, which since 2010 includes regular meetings between regional leaders to discuss energy efficiency and resilience.
The United States proposed unlocking new funds for the Western Hemisphere through a loan that was approved in November 2009.
Panama City, Panama (2015)
Key themes
Advancing education, trade facilitation, citizen participation
and democratic governance, hemispheric partnership for development and health.
Notable highlights
Under the banner of “prosperity with equity,” the Seventh Summit of the Americas was the first with leaders or foreign ministers from all thirty-five governments in the hemisphere in attendance.
Leaders prioritized access to public goods, including access to safe drinking water, and efforts to overcome the digital gap, promote youth education and engagement, and invest across infrastructure and human development. Leaders committed to implement their countries’ obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement.
Participants signed a letter of intent to establish an Inter-American Education System.
Los Angeles, California,
United States (2022)
Key themes
Building a sustainable, resilient, and equitable future.
Notable highlights
Leaders adopted political commitments on democratic governance, pandemic response and resilience, digital transformation, climate, and clean energy.
US and Caribbean leaders launched the US-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030, prioritizing climate resilience, clean energy investments, and food security.
Twenty governments announced the Los Angeles Declaration, an initiative to create conditions for safe, orderly, humane, and regular migration as well as strengthen frameworks for international protection and cooperation.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia (1996)
Key themes
Promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry, protecting water resources and coastal areas, developing energy and mineral resources, and promoting health and education.
Notable highlights
The summit established the Plan of Action for the Sustainable Development of the Americas, which focused on equitable economic growth, public participation, poverty eradication, promoting a healthy environment, a strong legal framework for national governance, and mobilizing financial resources for a sustainable future (based on the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21).
Planning began on the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network to increase hemispheric collaboration, communication and information exchange, and an Inter-American Forum on Environmental Law to strengthen laws for environmental protection.
Notable highlights
Initial preparations began for the Inter-American Democratic Charter—adopted later that year—to further enshrine democracy as a hemispheric value and a cornerstone of the summit process.
The summit created the Joint Summit Working Group, involving four inter-American organizations: the Inter-American Development Bank, the Pan American Health Organization, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Organization of American States General Secretariat.
The summit established the Follow-Up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), which is currently housed within the Organization of American States.
Quebec City, Canada (2001)
Key themes
Strengthening representative democracy and human rights, improving access to justice and rule of law, hemispheric security, disaster management, indigenous rights, and creating prosperity.
Third Summit
Second Summit
Fifth Summit
First Summit
Special Summit on Sustainable Development*
Monterrey, Mexico (2004)
Key themes
Promoting social development, combatting poverty, achieving economic growth, and strengthening governance.
Notable highlights
A new plan of action—the Declaration of Nuevo León—reaffirmed commitments toward strengthening democracy and financial systems, expanding healthcare, and promoting private-sector participation.
Given the high costs of remittance transfers across the Americas, regional leaders committed to halving these costs, with the cost of transfers reduced from 15 percent to 5.6 percent in four years.
The United States committed $237 million for HIV/AIDS treatment, benefiting 640,000 people across the hemisphere.
special Summit of the americas*
Mar del Plata, Argentina (2005)
Key themes
Creating better working conditions, promoting growth with employment, ushering in social development, and strengthening democratic governance.
Notable highlights
The goal of achieving a FTAA by 2005 was not realized during this summit, and the effort was henceforth abandoned.
Long-term national goals were adopted, including eliminating forced labor by 2010, eradicating child labor by 2020, and ending discrimination against women and elderly citizens.
The Americas Competitiveness Forum was established to promote innovation and the launch of the Infrastructure Development Program of the Americas—raising $2.6 billion in private finance.
fourth Summit
Cartagena, Colombia (2012)
Key themes
Integration of physical infrastructure in the Americas; addressing poverty, inequality, and inequity, disaster risk reduction and management, access to information and communication technologies, and citizen security and transnational organized crime.
Notable highlights
Increased calls from the private sector and regional governments for public-private partnerships and collaborating to achieve regional prosperity, facilitate investment, strengthen communications infrastructure, reduce poverty, and combat violence and corruption.
The first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Summit of the Americas set the stage for the Connect the Americas Summit, launched the Connect2022 Initiative, and established the Small Business Network of the Americas (SBNA) to promote job and business opportunities.
The summit established the Chapultepec Consensus—a hemispheric plan to cooperate against transnational organized crime.
sixth Summit
Seventh Summit
Lima, Peru (2018)
Key themes
Reinforcing of democratic governance, transparency, access to information, protecting human rights, and preventing corruption.
Notable highlights
The summit adopted the Lima Commitment, the first document adopted by consensus in thirteen years. It allowed for a shared sense of increased political will to adopt further mandates and initiatives—a watershed moment in the history of the summit.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) formally joined the summit process through the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG).
Through its mandates, the government of Peru and the Summit of the Americas Secretariat initiated a new formal follow-up mechanism for summit governments to share updates on implementation and best practices.
eighth Summit
ninth Summit