U.S. To Host Summit Of The Americas For The First Time Since 1994

The White House has reaffirmed its commitment to hosting the next Summit of the Americas, scheduled to take place next summer.

The Biden administration said in a Thursday statement that it will be the first time the U.S. has hosted the summit which is the only meeting of all leaders from North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean since the inaugural year of the gathering in 1994.

Donald Trump was the first U.S. president to skip a Summit of the Americas, choosing in 2018 to not attend the meeting. The decision was lambasted by some analysts at the time as a “shocking abandonment ” of regional leadership.

Adam Ratzlaff, a researcher of Latin American foreign and public affairs, said in an opinion piece earlier this year that observers were “cautiously optimistic “ that the United States’ hosting of the 2022 summit could mark the beginning of a positive new chapter for regional cooperation.

Leaders “across the Americas should embrace the upcoming summit as an opportunity to improve and invigorate hemispheric affairs,” Ratzlaff said.

Miami was the host city of the first Summit of the Americas, which is held every three years, but next year’s host city remains unknown. The White House said it would be releasing more details about the 2022 summit at a later date.