by Xinhua writers Wu Zhiqiang, Wang Xiangjiang

    PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Fifth Summit of the Americas closed here on Sunday in what Prime Minister Patrick Manning of the host country Trinidad and Tobago described as a "new spirit of cooperation."

Prime Minister Patrick Manning of the host country Trinidad and Tobago addressses the closing ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, April 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Pool) Photo Gallery>>>

    Manning said he was "extremely pleased" at the outcome of the summit, and that "a new spirit of cooperation was very evident in the conduct of business" at the three-day gathering of leaders from 34 countries of the Western Hemisphere.

    "Never before have I attended a conference where the spirit of cooperation was as good as the spirit we have met here in Port of Spain," he said.

    "These deliberations here have heralded the dawn of a newer, brighter and better day," Manning said.

    Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also spoke highly of the atmosphere of amity at the meeting.

    "The most incredible thing about this conference was the failure to fulfill expectations of great confrontations here," Harper told a press conference. "We saw the replacement of confrontation with dialogue, very good dialogue."

    "In the difficult economic times in which we are living, this is a tremendously promising development," he noted.

    President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, another major player in the region, hailed the summit as marking the beginning of a new era in U.S.-Latin America ties.

    "We are extremely surprised with what happened in this meeting," Lula said at a separate press conference.

    IMMERSION COURSE FOR OBAMA

    "Obama had an immersion course in Latin America. I believe we will likely see a positive evolution in the relation between the United States and Latin America," said the Brazilian president.

    "It is possible to create a new dynamic of partnership and contribution," Lula said.

    A final declaration of commitment failed to get unanimous support, as some countries had "reservations" about some elements of the document, Manning said, without giving any details.

    Prior to the summit, leaders of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras had threatened to "veto" the document.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales Ayma (R) gestures upon his arrival for the closing ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, April 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Juan Carlos Hernandez) Photo Gallery>>>

    At a press briefing following the closing ceremony, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said some felt that the question of the economic and financial meltdown was not sufficiently discussed in the document.

    "Another was the question of Cuba," he said.

    The declaration, as it turned out, mentioned neither the financial crisis nor Cuba, but contained a footnote with Bolivia's statement on the adverse effects of biofuel development on food supply, food prices, deforestation, and displacement of populations.

    ABSENT CUBA FOCUS OF ATTENTION

    Cuba, which was suspended by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962 and has been absent from all five Americas summits, has been a focus of attention well before the summit's opening on Friday.

    The majority of countries in the Americas have been pressing for the reinstatement of Cuba's membership in the OAS and an end to the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo on Havana.

    The Obama administration's move on April 13 to end restrictions on Cuban Americans' travel and remittances back to Cuba met positive response from Cuban leader Raul Castro, who said "everything" would be up for discussion with Washington and that the Cuban government may have been "wrong" in avoiding talks with the United States in the past.

    Obama, in his address at the summit's opening ceremony on Friday, spoke of seeking "a new beginning" in ties with Cuba.

    "I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking," he said. "But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction."

    The exchanges have raised hope among some for warmer U.S.-Cuban relations, but the Obama administration appears to be trying to temper such expectations.

    At a Sunday press briefing after the summit, Obama said he sees "potential positive signs" in Washington's relations with Cuba, but added that the U.S. policy toward Havana isn't going to "change overnight," and that "freedom for the island nation" remains the ultimate U.S. goal.

    The U.S. president's amicable interactions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a far cry from the hostility between the Venezuelan leader and Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, also received much media attention.

    Chavez told Obama in English: "I want to be your friend," and gave him a book as gift.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gives U.S. President Barack Obama a copy of "Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina" by author Eduardo Galiano during a meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad April 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The book, which was first published in 1971 and entitled "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," details the exploitation of Latin America by colonialists for centuries.

    The warming of U.S. ties with Venezuela and Cuba was welcomed by many at the summit.

    "Let's be frank, everybody expected Chavez and Obama to fight each other. What happened? Exactly the opposite," Lula told a press conference shortly after the end of the summit.

    "Chavez said that it is not enough to be a commercial partner of the United States. He actually wants to be a friend of the United States," the Brazilian president said.

    He, too, praised the amity at the gathering.

    "I travel a lot around this continent and have constant meetings, and I should say the political atmosphere of this gathering was outstanding," he said.

    (Xinhua writers Yang Qingchuan and Jiang Guopeng, and Marcelo Cajueiro also contributed to this report)