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FOURTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS TO TAKE PLACE IN NOVEMBER 2005

QUITO, Ecuador – Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Rafael Bielsa, announced today that the Fourth Summit of the Americas will be held during the first week of November of 2005. Bielsa, who chairs the Summits of the Americas Process and represents the host country, proposed that the Fourth Summit focus on “Creating Jobs to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”

He made the announcement during the 35th meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), in which the region’s foreign ministers participated. The meeting took place within the framework of the annual session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).

OAS Secretary General César Gaviria reported on the progress that inter-American and international institutions have made in fighting corruption, in support of the implementation of Summit mandates. Gaviria highlighted the efforts of the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), as well as the subregional banks – the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) – in fulfilling the ambitious goals of the Summits of the Americas.

Gaviria said the Summits have renewed the inter-American spirit and revitalized the multilateral agenda in strengthening democracy and promoting prosperity.

Mexico’s Under Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Miguel Hakim, reported on the achievements of the Special Summit of the Americas, which took place January 12-13. He underscored the commitments made in the Declaration of Nuevo León to increase credit for micro-, small- and middle-sized business, reduce the cost of remittances, expand educational coverage, increase the availability of HIV/AIDS treatment and support mechanisms to combat corruption.

Minister Bielsa presented a schedule and plan of activities in preparation for the Fourth Summit of the Americas, which includes consultations with the 33 other governments and the different social actors in the process. Irene Klinger, Executive Secretary of the OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat, said her office would provide substantive and organizational support in the preparatory process.

For more information, visit the Summits Secretariat Web page (www.summitsoftheamericas.org).

Reference: GA-011-04