“Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future”
The United States developed the theme for the Ninth Summit with the region’s governments, civil society, and private sector, and the thirteen international organizations that comprise the Joint Summit Working Group and support the summit process).
People, institutions, and governments across our hemisphere have shared with us their priorities and concerns, and these include the COVID-19 pandemic and the cracks it exposed in health, economic, educational, and social systems; they include threats to democracy; the climate crisis; and a lack of equitable access to economic, social, and political opportunities that places a heavy burden on the most vulnerable and underrepresented among us.
The success of the summit will depend on adoption of an ambitious and action-oriented agenda, and on implementation of the commitments leaders make in Los Angeles in June to address these challenges.
Los Angeles
The convening of the Ninth Summit of the Americas will take place in June 2022 in Los Angeles, California, our second largest city and one with deep and robust ties throughout our hemisphere.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Hispanic/Latino community in the United States. With more than 224 languages spoken, a population representing 140 countries, and established government, business, and people-to-people ties with communities across the Americas, the diversity and connectivity of Los Angeles shows our hemisphere and the world the best of American society and will foster an inclusive environment for all summit participants.
Los Angeles is the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, with the hospitality infrastructure to reflect that. LA also hosts the 3rd largest consular corps in the world. The U.S. will leverage these logistical attributes to ensure a safe, healthy, and seamless Summit planning process.
The Ninth Summit = Leaders Summit + Stakeholder Forums
As Chair of the Ninth Summit process, the United States currently leads efforts with governments and stakeholders across the region to address these challenges through the Summit Process. Throughout, the United States has demonstrated, and will continue to demonstrate, our commitment to an inclusive process that incorporates input from people and institutions that represent the immense diversity of our hemisphere, and includes indigenous and other historically marginalized voices.
In addition to the Leaders Summit hosted by President Biden, and in the spirit of fostering a more inclusive summit, the United States Department of State will host three official stakeholder forums at the Summit:
- The Ninth Civil Society Forum,
- The Sixth Young Americas Forum, and
- The Fourth CEO Summit of the Americas.
Each forum will foster greater dialogue between heads of government and the people and businesses of the Americas to address hemispheric challenges and opportunities including social inclusion, economic recovery, climate change, democracy, digital transformation, and democracy.
What is the Summit of the Americas?
Only the Summit of the Americas brings together leaders from the countries of North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean. The Summit, and its stakeholder forums, promote cooperation towards region-wide, inclusive economic growth and prosperity based on our shared respect for democracy, fundamental freedoms, the dignity of labor, and free enterprise.
Civil society organizations, representatives of indigenous communities, civic leaders, and business executives and young entrepreneurs also meet at each Summit, promoting dialogue and developing plans of action to address the challenges and opportunities facing the people of the Americas. The nation that hosts the Summit of the Americas serves as the Chair of the Summit process; the previous host serves as Vice Chair.
Each Summit focuses on critical area of cooperation of interest to all the countries in the Americas. This has allowed us to work together to promote democracy and human rights, increase economic competitiveness, promote development, improve access to clean energy and communication technology, strengthen regional security, and counter illicit trafficking. Most recently, leaders committed to fighting the corruption that undermines democratic governance when they met at the Eighth Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru in 2018.
History of the Summit & Past Summits
U.S. President Bill Clinton convened the first Summit of the Americas in Miami, Florida, in December 1994 to promote economic growth and prosperity throughout the Americas based on shared democratic values and the promise of increased trade and commerce to improve the quality of life for all peoples and preserve the hemisphere’s natural resources for future generations. The 1994 Summit was the first hemispheric summit since 1967, when Uruguay hosted most of the region’s leaders, but did not include Canada and much of the Caribbean. The subsequent regular summits have taken place in Santiago, Chile (1998), Quebec City, Canada (2001), Mar del Plata, Argentina (2005), Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2009), Cartagena, Colombia (2012), Panama City, Panama (2015), and Lima, Peru (2018). Special summits took place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (1996), and Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico (2004).
The United States currently serves as Chair of the Summit’s deliberative body, the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG). The Summit has taken place approximately once every three years since 1994 and is the only meeting of all leaders from the countries of North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean. This will be the first time the United States has hosted the Summit since the inaugural meeting in Miami, in 1994.
For more on past Summits, see the official Summit Secretariat’s website.
The Summit Process – Who participates? What do they do?
The Summit of the Americas process brings our hemisphere together, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but remains a process independent of any other international organization. Leaders and stakeholders convene across a comprehensive and inclusive framework that also distinguishes the Summit of the Americas from any other international Summit process:
- Heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and other senior officials from the governments of the Americas attend the Summit of the Americas and associated forums at the invitation of the host government. The President or Vice President of the United States has attended all the Summits of the Americas.
- Heads of international organizations comprising the Joint Summit Working Group, the thirteen multilateral institutions and development finance institutions committed to supporting the Summit process. You can find additional information about the Joint Summit Working Group on the Summit Secretariat website.
- National Coordinators. The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) is the core management body of the Summits Process and is comprised of government officials of the countries of the hemisphere, which are represented in the SIRG by their appointed National Coordinators.
- The OAS’ Summit of the Americas Secretariat –– The leaders of our hemisphere charged the Organization of American States with hosting the Summits of the Americas Secretariat, which serves in the important institutional role of supporting and ensuring the Summit of the Americas process.
- The people and the businesses of the Americas (“Stakeholders”) — The private sector, civil society representatives, and historically marginalized and vulnerable groups have long been a part of the official summit process, principally through the Civil Society Forum, the Young Americas Forum, and the CEO Summit of the America, but also through additional forums. Learn more at our official stakeholder page for the 9th Summit.