Fifth Summit of the Americas

5th Summit of the Americas
5th Summit of the Americas logo
Host country	Trinidad and Tobago
Dates	April 17–19, 2009
Venue(s)	Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Cities	Port of Spain
Participants	33
Follows	4th Summit of the Americas
Precedes	6th Summit of the Americas
Website	http://www.fifthsummitoftheamericas.org/

The Fifth Summit of the Americas (VSOA) was held at Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, on April 17–19, 2009.

Organizers planned for the Fifth Summit to focus on a wide-ranging theme: "Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability."

The Summits of the Americas are a continuing series of summits bringing together the leaders of North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. The function of these summits is to foster discussion of a variety of issues affecting the western hemisphere. These high-level summit meetings have been organized by a number of multilateral bodies under the aegis of the Organization of American States. In the early 1990s, what were formerly ad hoc summits came to be institutionalized into a regular "Summits of the Americas" conference program.

The host nation's task in organizing the summit programme was a multi-faceted challenge.

The top issue at the summit was the current economic crisis, which also encompassed issues of access to increased credit and lending from multilateral banks, sub-regional banks and international development banks. Other issues included promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability.

Regional leaders had their first face-to-face meeting with United States President Barack Obama at the summit.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez used his first meeting with President Obama to argue in favor of lifting the US-led embargo of Cuba. Chávez also used the occasion to publicly present Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano's 1971 book Open Veins of Latin America.

The host country's Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) planned to ensure that they would be prepared to deal with the consequences of natural or man-made hazards which might impact the delegates during the Summit of the Americas. The Ministry of National Security and OPDM worked together in anticipation of over 4,000 visitors.