MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The fourth Summit of the Organization of American states (OAS) will take place on November 4-5 at Mar del Plata, Aregentina, to focus on FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), fighting poverty and strengthening democratic governance.

    The first Summit of the Americas was held in December, 1994 at Miami, the United States. The meeting endorsed the idea of FTAA and approved Plan of Action to strengthen democracy, eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development in the region.

    The first summit was based on the initiative former US President George Bush, father of the current US President George W. Bush.

    The 1994 summit, called by then US President William Clinton, occurred just after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, Canada and the United States.

    NAFTA was deemed as an experiment of Washington for future similar agreements with Latin American countries or a continental one.

    Four years later, in April 1998, the second Summit took place at Santiago, Chile. The summit decided to promote transparency in matters related to defense policy and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the Hemisphere.

    The third Summit was held at Quebec City, Canada, in April 2001.

    The 2001 summit stated that commitment to democracy was a requirement for a country's participation in the summit process. The meeting also determined that the OAS was to be the technical secretarial for the process, assuming many of the responsibilities previously taken by the host country.

    In January, 2004, Mexico hosted a special summit to address the issues of economic growth with equity, social development and democratic governance. No major results were obtained.

    The FTAA, a pet project of the US, which is designed to unite 34 continental and Caribbean countries in a trade pact and originally expected to be created this year, has been delayed by serious disputes in the negotiations between the United States and Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.

    If the FTAA were to come into effect, it would group 34 countries of the continent, representing an economy of 13 trillionUS dollars and a population of 800 million. Enditem