Next week, Costa Rica will host the XLIX Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA), which will bring together the eight member countries. Five presidents confirmed their presence, including Luis Guillermo Solís. Two countries will not come to the meeting.
But what is SICA? This organization was established in December 1991 and became operational in February 1993. The headquarters is in El Salvador.
It was created by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. In 2000 Belize joined and in 2013 Dominican Republic followed.
In addition, SICA has regional and extra-regional observers. The regional observers are: Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, United States of America, Ecuador, Uruguay and Colombia. The extra-regional observers are Taiwan, Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, South Korea, France, the Vatican and the United Kingdom.
The creation of this entity was endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
The fundamental objective for establishing the system is to constitute the development of the area in a region of peace, freedom, democracy and sustainable development, based on the respect and promotion of human rights.
The topics that will be discussed this time include the analysis for election in secretariats and agreements in the region regarding energy and security.
The summit, divided in three days, will have the most important meetings on Wednesday.