SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic— The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Americas, meeting here for the thirty-sixth regular session of the OAS General Assembly, today agreed to formally accept the offer of the government of Trinidad and Tobago to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009. They said they would work together on a plan to accelerate the implementation of the mandates approved last November in Argentina, in the Declaration and Plan of Action of Mar del Plata.

The Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), chaired by Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, met for the first time at a ministerial level since November, to follow up on the mandates adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Fourth Summit of the Americas.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said the meeting of the SIRG with the foreign ministers provides an opportunity to guide efforts to monitor the fulfillment of Summit commitments on labor issues, social development and the strengthening of democracy, among other areas. “At the OAS, we continue working to design national and multilateral mechanisms to follow up on the commitments we have reached, and on the financial options available to meet each of those goals,” Insulza said.

The Director of the OAS Summits of the Americas Department, Luis Alberto Rodríguez, presented the heads of delegation with the fourth volume of the official series of documents of the Summit process, as well as the report of the Joint Summit Working Group. Both editions were published “in fulfillment of the commitment to serve as the institutional memory of these hemispheric meetings and as a tool to help move forward the Summit commitments and contribute to the task of disseminating information to the governments, multilateral agencies and civil society in general,” Rodríguez .

The designation of Trinidad and Tobago as the 2009 host was supported by acclamation by the member states and noted specifically by the delegations of Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Jamaica, the United States and Brazil.

Reference: E-007AG36