http://www.plenglish.com

Summit of the Americas Prep Meeting Winds Up

Buenos Aires, Sep 9 (Prensa Latina) Representatives from 34 countries are winding up Friday in this capital one of the last preparatory meetings before the 4th Summit of the Americas, to be run November 4-5 in Mar del Plata.

After three days of discussions, the 40th Meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) concluded with the Declaration and Action Plan for the next hemispheric event.

Argentinean Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana tackled neoliberal policies gripping the 90´s during the SIRG opening session and defended a reform of the international financial system.

The diplomat did not mention the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), even though US coordinator at the forum John Maisto tried to bring the project to the fore, which has been rejected in the Southern Cone.

Taiana mentioned notable advances reached by Latin American nations regarding democracy and political and civil rights.

The slogan of the Summit will be "to create work to face up to poverty and foster democratic governability."

Maisto is attending the Buenos Aires meeting with the aim of including in the Declaration a positive approach on the 90´s economic methods, derived from Washington´s Agreement.

In contrast, Argentina, supported by the other regional countries, fought the neoliberal model applied in the continent.