Special Summit of the Americas - Monterrey, Mexico, January 2004: Background, Objectives, and Results

RS21700 -- Special Summit of the Americas -- Monterrey, Mexico, January 2004: Background, Objectives, and Results

Updated January 14, 2005

Summary

The Special Summit of the Americas held on January 12 and 13, 2004, in Monterrey, Mexico was the first meeting of all democratic heads of state from Latin America, the United States and Canada that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS) since the Quebec Summit in April 2001. At the Monterrey Summit, leaders discussed broad issues affecting countries in the hemisphere at length, such as free trade and corruption. Their primary accomplishment, however, was to renew their commitments to implementing the Quebec City Summit Declaration and Plan of Action by issuing the Declaration of Nuevo León. Rather than adopting numerous new initiatives, the declaration focuses on achieving a few measurable objectives. Those objectives include halving the cost of sending remittances by 2008, endorsing the Inter-American Development Bank's goal of tripling credit for small and medium-sized businesses by 2007, and fighting corruption by denying safe haven to corrupt officials and their assets. The Fourth Summit of the Americas will be held in Argentina in November 2005. One of the major themes that will be discussed at the next Summit is employment in the hemisphere. This report will not be updated.