Aim of Meeting: In order to commemorate the 5 centenary of the discovery of America by Columbus, Juan Carlos, the king of Spain suggested to call an Iberian American Summit Meeting and won the enthusiastic responses and supports from the Spanish-and-Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America. Assisted by Spain and actively organized by Mexico the first Iberian American Summit Meeting was held in Mexico in 1991, and the meeting was called once a year thenceforth, and the meeting had been held for eight times up to the end of 1998.


Participants: The heads of the governments of the 18 Spanish speaking countries in Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominica, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay), the Portuguese speaking Brazil, and the heads of Spain and Portugal governments on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe.


All Previous Meetings: From 18 - 19 July 1991, the first Iberian American Summit Meeting was held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Attended at the meeting were the heads of all Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America and the heads of Spain and Portugal, altogether 21 countries. The meeting discussed the strengthening of unity and cooperation between the Iberian and American countries as well as the progress of integration, and the meeting also got through the "Guadalajara Declaration". The meeting also called for democracy and diversification in the strengthening of international relations on the basis of respecting fully the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national independence, equal sovereignty and self-determination of all countries, to go further in consultation in international affairs and to strive for an full-power dialoguer on the international arena. The meeting decided to establish a permanent body for the Iberian American Summit Meeting.


From 23 - 24 July 1992, the 2nd summit meeting was held in Madrid, Spain, attended at which were 19 heads of the state and government. The presidents of Venezuela, Peru and Colombia and the prime minister of Portugal failed to attend the meeting due to some reasons. The meeting published the "Final Statement", stressing the international free trade, opposing trade protectionism, requesting the UN assembly and the International Court at Hague to examine the issue of extraterritoriality, calling the international community for providing international financial aid to the Central America, and the meeting also discussed on the issues as regards the regional political cooperation, the representative democracy, economic integration, anti-drugs, anti-terrorist activities, as well as environment, education and health and so on.


From 15 - 16 July 1993, the 3rd summit meeting was held in the Salvador city of Brazil, at which were discussed the confronted political, economic and social problems. The meeting published the "Final Document of the Salvador Meeting", stressing specially on the following issues as to work hard to wipe out poverty, famine and illiteracy and reduce the disparity between the two extremities when developing economy; advocating to establish a new relationship between the north and south and speeding up the Uruguay round talks, abolishing tariff barrier and trade protectionism, requesting the developed countries to open up their markets to the developing countries, transferring high technology and science and reasonable solution of foreign debts; requesting that the UN organs should be reformed, holding that the Latin America and the Caribbean representatives should become the standing member countries of the UN Council, appealing to put an end to the economic embargo imposed upon Cuba.


From 14 - 15 June 1994, the 4th summit meeting was convened in Cartagena, Colombia. The major topic of the meeting was centered upon the free trade, the regional integration and economic development. The "Cartagena Statement" published at the meeting pointed out: the free trade system and the regional integration are the fundamental conditions for the economic development in Latin America. The meeting advocated to carry out the policy of "open regionalism" at the same time when setting up economic and trade group, and the aim of regional integration was to make the regional organizations of the Latin America Integration Association, the South Common Market, the Andes Group, the Central America Common Market, the Caribbean Common Market and the Three Countries Group to merge into an integrated one. The "Statement" reiterated to continuously maintain the human rights, oppose violence and drug smuggling, and requesting the USA to lift the economic and trade sanction on Cuba. The meeting decided to raise the suggestion by Spain of establishing an Iberian American Credit and Assurance Corporation to the Pan America Development Bank for consideration.


From 16 - 17 October 1995, the 5th summit meeting was held in Bariloche, Argentina. Attended at the meeting were 21 delegations from the member countries including 18 heads of the state. The meeting published the "Bariloche Statement" and got through the two documents of the "Derived Cooperation from All Former Iberian American Summit Meetings" and the "Resolution on the Important Issues Reached at the Fifth Iberian American Summit Meeting", with the main topic centered on the social problems as how to enhance the quality in education and elimination of poverty and unemployment and so on. The meeting also denounced the US embargo on Cuba.


From 10 -11 November 1996, the 6th summit meeting was called first at Santiago and then at Vi?a del May attended at the meeting were the heads of the state and government of Spain, Portugal and the 19 Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries and invited to attend the meeting were also the secretary-general of the America States Organization and the president of the American Development Bank. The meeting published the "Vi?a del May Statement", expressing its resolute opposition to any attempt at changing the democratic system, proposing to establish the mechanism for the Iberian American political cooperation in order to harmonize the stands for coping with any possible occurrence of sudden events, expressing its strongest opposition to the ???..practiced by the USA, promoting further the study on the setting up of Latin America Integration and reiterating the importance of strengthening of cooperation between Europe and Latin America. The main topic at the meeting was social problems.


From 8 - 9 November 1997, the 7th summit meeting was held in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. The 21 heads of the state and government of the 20 countries from Latin America, Spain and Portugal attended the meeting. Invited by the meeting, Anan, Secretary-general of the UN, Gaviria, Secretary-general of the America States Organization, Carlos Juan Moneda, Permanent secretary of the Latin America Economic System, Gert Rosenthal, Executive secretary of the Latin America Economic Commission, Antunes, Secretary-general of the Association of Latin America Integration attended the meeting. The main theme of the meeting is centered on the improvement and strengthening of the democratic system. Adopted at the meeting was the "Margarita Statement", reiterating its concerns and pledges made for maintaining democracy, justice, equality, cooperation and peaceful coexistence, stressing on the continuous strengthening of protection for the economic, social, cultural and development rights while giving due respects to the civil and political rights.


From 17 - 18 October 1998, the 8th summit meeting was held in Porta, Portugal. Attended at the meeting were the heads of the state or government of the 19 Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Invited by the meeting, the secretary-general, the UN official in charge of the Latin America Affairs, President of Pan America Development Bank, secretary-general of the UNESCO, vice-president of the European Commission and the executive secretary of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries also attended the meeting in the name of observers. With the "Challenge of Globalization and Regional Integration" as the theme topic the discussion at the meeting was laid on the present international financial situation, strongly demanding that the Seven Countries Group and the International Financial Organization should go into actions immediately for restoring the stability of the financial market, preventing the occurrence of global economic recession. The meeting got through the "Declaracion de Porto" and the other four additional statements concerning the international financial situation, progress of peace in Colombia, progress of peace in Peru and Ecuador and the proposal for convening the summit meeting of the countries of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean countries.


Relations with China: Yang Shangkun, President of the People's Republic of China sent a message over, congratulating the 1st Iberaian American Summit Meeting in 1991.