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1 [1] (April 18, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govzgh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Cogesoa Resarc SenUe Updated April 18, 2018 2018 Summit of the Americas Overview The eighth Summit of the Americas took place in Lima, Peru, on April 13-14, 2018. The Summits of the Americas have been held roughly every three years since 1994 and serve as opportunities for the Western Hemisphere's heads of government to engage directly with one another and address issues of mutual concern. Congress expressed considerable interest in the 2018 summit, with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee holding a hearing in the lead- up to the event and several Members traveling to Lima to observe the proceedings and meet with the hemisphere's leaders. The official theme of the summit was Democratic Governance against Corruption. Accordingly, the leaders of the hemisphere committed to undertaking measures to increase transparency and combat corruption in their countries. They also discussed the ongoing political and economic crises in Venezuela, although Venezuelan President Nicolis Maduro was not invited to attend. A group of 16 nations issued a declaration that called on Venezuela to hold free and fair elections and urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people. The 115th Congress has enacted several measures intended to address these regional challenges and could consider additional efforts to support the summit agreements. President Donald Trump was scheduled to attend the Lima summit as part of his first trip to Latin America since taking office. He canceled the trip on April 10, 2018, however, with the White House asserting that the President needed to remain in Washington to oversee U.S. military operations in Syria. It was the first time that a U.S. President did not participate in a Summit of the Americas. Vice President Mike Pence attended on behalf of the United States. He delivered a speech outlining U.S. priorities and met with several of the hemisphere's leaders. It is unclear whether the Vice President's efforts helped to alleviate concerns about the Trump Administration's policy agenda, which generally has been received poorly in the region. Background The Summits of the Americas were established in the early 1990s during a brief period of consensus in the Western Hemisphere. After decades of civil war and military rule, 34 of the 35 countries in the region had established elected civilian democracies. Likewise, following the end of the Cold War, most of the governments in the region had moved away from state-led development in favor of economic liberalization. To build on those shared values and develop a common agenda for the hemisphere's future, President Bill Clinton invited all of the democratically elected heads of government in the hemisphere to attend the first Summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994. The summit attendees approved a comprehensive plan of action with 23 separate initiatives under four major themes: (1) preserving and strengthening the community of democracies of the Americas, (2) promoting prosperity through economic integration and free trade, (3) eradicating poverty and discrimination in the hemisphere, and (4) guaranteeing sustainable development and conserving the natural environment for future generations. Perhaps the most important initiative to emerge from the Miami summit was an agreement to work toward the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that would include the entire hemisphere, with the exception of Cuba. The FTAA was never realized, but the process led to numerous bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Although other Summits of the Americas also have produced some notable results, the hemisphere's leaders often have struggled to reach consensus on key issues over the past 15 years. Consequently, some analysts have criticized the more recent summits for producing superficial declarations that paper over fundamental disagreements. Others argue that the summits remain a valuable forum for strengthening hemispheric ties since they help foster interpersonal relationships among the region's leaders and focus policymakers' attention on regional challenges. Outcomes of the Lima Summit Anti-corruption Initiatives As noted above, Democratic Governance against Corruption was the overarching theme of the Lima summit. High-profile corruption scandals have weakened or brought down several Latin American presidents in recent years, including Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, whose government chose the summit theme. Kuczynski had denied a series of corruption allegations but resigned in the face of impeachment proceedings on March 21, 2018. Corruption also has contributed to the rejection of traditional political parties and an erosion of support for democratic governance throughout the region. Summit attendees approved the Lima Commitment, which includes 57 actions to combat corruption in the region. Among other actions, attendees committed to reinforcing democratic governance by promoting high ethics standards, improving government transparency through the adoption of new technologies, increasing the transparency of campaign and political party financing, promoting stronger cooperation among the region's justice sector officials, and strengthening regional mechanisms to monitor governments' anti-corruption efforts. Some analysts are skeptical that governments in the region will enact such https://crsreports.congress go

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