(E-207/00) November 28, 2000   PREPARATIONS WELL UNDERWAY FOR NEXT SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS   The twentieth meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) got underway at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington today, to continue preparations for the Third Summit of the Americas next April, in Quebec City, Canada. This is the second meeting called to negotiate the Declaration and Plan of Action that the hemisphere's heads of state and government will sign during their Quebec City gathering. Ambassador Marc Lortie, the Canadian Prime Minister's special envoy for the Summit of the Americas, inaugurated the meeting noting that its negotiations will focus on democracy and realizing human potential, core issues of the Summit. In a video taped message to the Washington meeting, IDB President Enrique Iglesias stressed the Bank's commitment to supporting the mandates of the upcoming hemispheric Summit, particular as regards education, indigenous populations, children and youth, gender, family, culture and development. Canada's National Coordinator and Ambassador to the OAS, Peter Boehm, reported on the last meeting of the OAS' Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management--which he chairs--noting the input from civil society groups on the issue of realizing the human potential. In his presentation, Chile's National Coordinator Ambassador Alberto Van Klaveren invited the participants to a meeting with civil society organizations, to be held in Miami from January 18 to 20, 2001, arising out of consultations spearheaded by the PARTICIPA Foundation, Esquel, and FOCAL. The OAS' Office of Summit Follow-up is providing technical secretariat services for the meeting, which runs until November 30.   *******