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Colombia Announces Theme of Sixth Summit of the Americas: “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity”

Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin today announced that the central theme for the sixth Summit of the Americas will be “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity.” The Summit of Heads of State and Government is scheduled to take place in Cartagena, Colombia, April 14-15, 2012.

Minister Holguin, who in the framework of the 41st OAS General Assembly in El Salvador was chairing a meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) composed of all 34 member states of the OAS, noted that this theme encompasses a comprehensive reflection of the objectives of unity and integration, and underscored Colombia’s objective to work with the countries of the continent to elaborate a final Summit document that reflects a united hemisphere, determined to overcome its challenges.

The Minister added that an enhanced emphasis on practical goals of infrastructure development and supportive cooperation are viewed as underlying pillars that can help to advance these overall goals. In sharing the theme with her colleague Ministers, Minister Holguin thanked Member States for their willingness to participate in a broad process of consultation that helped to inform the decision regarding the Summit’s central theme. She proposed, and Member States agreed, to work toward having a Summit final document that is “brief, concrete and results-oriented.”

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza noted the work being carried out by the Government of Colombia in coordinating the event, and he urged the member states to share ideas and implementation reports to guide the Summits process, which he described as “a clear opportunity to devise or update a hemispheric agenda at the highest level, one that will address our societies’ most urgent problems and main challenges.”

The OAS’s top official underscored that the Cartagena event “will provide an ideal opportunity for meeting and deciding on the actions necessary to ensure that this is the decade of Latin America and the Caribbean and, consequently, for defining the hemispheric agenda for the coming years.”

In presenting updates on the status of preparations for the next Summit, Minister Holguin provided Member States with detailed methodological guidelines for the Summit and proposed a new format for the final Sixth Summit document, which would include both a political declaration and individual chapters on the sub-themes of poverty and inequality, citizen security, natural disasters and access to technology. Additionally, Minister Holguin expressed her country’s support for creating spaces for interaction with a broad range of social actors throughout the process.

During their dialogue in San Salvador, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Delegations expressed their full support for the proposed theme and methodology, and indicated their commitment to work with the Government of Colombia in the process of negotiation to achieve desired outcomes.

Both Minister Holguin and Secretary General Insulza pledged to continue working closely together and with institutions of the Joint Summit Working Group to advance the preparatory process and achieve the greatest level of technical support in order to realize a successful Summit of the Americas that projects the hemisphere as a strategic partner on the world stage.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-718/11