Summit of the Americas III, Quebec City, Canada, April 20-22, 2001: Background, Objectives, and Results

Summit of the Americas III was held in Quebec City, Canada, on April 20-22, 2001, and was attended by 34 democratically elected Presidents and Prime Ministers from the Western Hemisphere, including President George W. Bush.It was President Bush's first international summit, and his first major opportunity to reemphasize the priority his administration places on the Western Hemisphere, given that he visited Mexico in mid-February, spoke at the Organization of American States (OAS) in mid-April, and met with seven hemispheric leaders before he attended the Summit in Canada.The Quebec City Summit was a follow up to the presidential-level Summit of the Americas I (Miami, Florida, December 1994) and Summit of the Americas II (Santiago, Chile, April 1998), as well as the ministerial Summit for Sustainable Development (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, December 1996).Most analysts agree that the hemispheric countries and organizations have made progress on the broad mandates established in 1994, 1996, and 1998, namely to preserve and strengthen democracy, promote prosperity through freer trade, eradicate poverty and discrimination, and guarantee sustainable development and environmental conservation.However, some argue that progress has been disappointing in education, sustainable development, and in promotion of civil society participation.Others argue that democracy remains fragile in the hemisphere and that poverty, discrimination, and injustice are still pervasive.The Quebec Summit had a high degree of consensus among the 34 heads of state, although there are still considerable differences regarding the final form of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).The hemispheric leaders dealt with three major themes: (1) Strengthening Democracy, where they agreed to a democracy clause that specified that democratic government was an essential condition for participation in the summit process; (2) Creating Prosperity, where they agreed to advance toward the conclusion of the agreement on the FTAA by January 2005; and(3) Realizing Human Potential, where they agreed to initiatives to promote education, health, and greater equity for women, youth, and indigenous peoples.Considerable press coverage focused on the protesters who argue that free trade agreements benefit business groups and the wealthy while resulting in the degradation of labor and environmental standards.Congress may be particularly interested in plans to advance FTAA negotiations, in efforts to implement the democracy clause for the hemisphere, in future assessments under the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) of hemispheric counter-narcotics efforts, and in plans for bilateral and multilateral cooperation to promote hemispheric socioeconomic reforms.

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