The X Summit of the Americas, a regional conclave for countries of the Western Hemisphere, is scheduled to be held in Punta Cana, in December 2025, originally with the theme of “Building a Secure and Sustainable Hemisphere with Shared Prosperity”.
Yet given the disrupted hemispherical relations, there are likely to be changes. If you only have lemons, then make lemonade. Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez, who leads the organizing committee, explained during an interview with El Despertador on 2 April 2025 that given the present polarities in the political scene in the Americas, the Dominican Republic is focusing on developing the Business and CEO Summit of the Summit of the Americas. Since inception, there have been four parts to the Summit of the Americas – Presidential and Ministerial Summit, Civil Society Summit, Youth Summit, Business Summit and CEO Summit.
Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez says that The Summit of the Americas, is the second most important issue the Ministry of Foreign Relations is working on, only behind the case of Haiti. The purpose of the meeting is to gather the countries of the Americas.
Yet as of April 2025, no country has confirmed participating. The reality in the words of Alvarez is “the invitations have not gone out.”
“We will see how this develops given the political polarization in the hemisphere,” he said during the interview. He mentioned as an example that the Dominican Republic does not have an ambassador in Venezuela after the Maduro administration asked for the ambassador to leave. Dominican affairs are handled there by the Spanish Embassy. “These are aspects we will have to weigh from now to December,” said Alvarez.
“Given the political situation in the hemisphere, we have decided it is best to focus on the business summit. We are working to get business people of the highest levels to come. These would then serve as a magnet to attract the others. We are working on the agenda,” he explained.
Follow the story in Spanish:
El Despertador – Min 40:00
3 April 2025