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Leaders from Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay are expected to
attend Friday's gathering, as well as representatives from
Mexico and Panama.
The inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP)
Leaders' Summit comes as Biden's foreign policy agenda is
dominated by the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Ukraine's bid
to repel Russian invaders.
The United States is expected to announce new development
financing for countries hosting migrants in the Western
Hemisphere as part of an effort to curb migrant arrivals at the
U.S-Mexico border and expand economic cooperation in the region.
The summit follows a similarly themed meeting of Western
Hemisphere leaders in Los Angeles last year, part of a broader
push aimed at strengthening regional economic ties and reducing
China's influence in the region.
At the "Summit of the Americas" in Los Angeles last year, Biden
signed a non-binding declaration where 20 countries from the
region agreed to a set of measures to confront the migration
crisis.
Record numbers of migrants have crossed illegally into the
U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, with hundreds of thousands
of people heading north after passing through a perilous jungle
region known as the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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