By Martin Kammandel and Baron Henri Estramant
Heads of state and government from 35 countries in the Americas met in Panama City, Republic of Panama between 10 and 11 April 2015 for the VII Summit of the Americas. Such summits are held every three years to discuss inter-American economic, social or political issues since 1994.
Cuba has historically been the wrench in the diplomatic machinery, with some Latin American leaders threatening not to attend the summit if the United States and Canada had not consent to invite President Raúl Castro Ruiz. At the end, the summit served as the forum for the first tête-à-tête between a US American president and his Cuban counterpart in decades; in fact, President Barack Obama participated in a bilateral press avail together with Cuban President Raúl Castro after the end of the plenary session on 11 April in Atlapa.
The Organization of American States headquartered in Washington D.C. arranges the summit in collaboration with the hosting state. Spanish, English, Portuguese and French are the working languages for the organisation.
This year’s summit’s central theme was “Prosperity with Equity: The Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas”. The sub-topics then discussed included education, health, energy, environment, migration, security, citizen participation and democratic governance.
Ad hoc The Netherlands was represented by Minister-President Mark Rutte since three “landen” forming the Kingdom (namely, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten) belong geographically to the Americas.
For more information
VII Summit of the Americas: http://
Participating heads of state and government: www.summit-
The summit in pictures, US Embassy in Panama: https://www.flickr.
