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The Seventh Summit of the Americas, the first in history that included representatives of the 35 independent countries of the Hemisphere, concluded today in Panama City, Panama following addresses by the 27 Heads of State and Government, five Foreign Ministers and three Permanent Representatives to the OAS.
The first plenary session included the presentation of the host, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, and the presence of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, included addresses by 14 Heads of State.
The second plenary session featured addresses by the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie; the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson-Miller; the President of Uruguay, Tabaré Vazquez; the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; the Prime Minister of Barbados, Freundel Stuart; the President of El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez Cerén; the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne; the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina; the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega; the President of Haiti, Michel Martelly; the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell; and the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Kenny Anthony.
Speakers in the second session also included the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Manuel González; the Foreign Minister of Chile, Heraldo Muñoz; the Foreign Minister of Belize, Wilfred Elrington; the Foreign Minister of Dominica, Francine Baron; the Foreign Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mark Brantley; the Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the OAS, Elisa Ruíz Díaz; the Permanent Representative of Suriname to the OAS, Niermala Badrising; and the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the OAS, Bayney Karran.
The Summit concluded with a Declaration from the Presidency, which President Varela delivered at the end of the event. In it, the Panamanian President said he convened the Summit “with a universal character,” and that the result was a “historic” event, thanks to the presence, for the first time, of Cuba.
“The decision announced by the Presidents of Cuba and the United States to move forward with a new approach to the relations between their countries created a legitimate expectation that situations, both old and new, that have made for tense hemispheric relations can be resolved,” he said. “This Summit has built bridges in that direction,” he said.
In Panama it was also determined that the VIII Summit of the Americas will be held in Lima, Peru in 2018.
