The I Ibero-American Summit was organized in July 1991 with the purpose of reflecting on the challenges of the worldwide environment, fostering cooperation initiatives and reaching solutions to the issues faced by Ibero-American nations. As of this year, it is being organized once a year with the presence of Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. Its permanent observers are Italy, Philippines, France, Morocco, Belgium and the Netherlands. Equatorial Guinea’s request is currently under study.
The country hosting the Summit holds the Secretariat Pro Tempore of the Ibero-American Conference for a year, which entails the responsibility of coordinating the activities, topics and agenda of the Meeting of Heads of State and Governments and of the sectoral ministerial meetings. The secretariat was held in 2010 by Argentina and Paraguay will do the same in 2011.
For Colombia, the Ibero-American Summit is one of the most important mechanisms for the promotion of inter-regional cooperation and a consensus forum for Latin America and the Caribbean with the main players of the region in Europe: Spain and Portugal.
The main theme of the XX Summit held in Argentina on December 3 and 4, 2010 was “Education for social inclusion”. The XXI Summit will take place in October 2011 in Asunción, under the theme “State Transformation for Development”.
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