April 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met with leaders from the Americas on Saturday, saying he was ready to listen and learn after promising an era of more regional cooperation and a new start with communist-ruled Cuba.
Obama is attending the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago along with 33 other leaders from the hemisphere, including Canada. Cuba is excluded from the meeting, an issue that has become a topic of debate.
Following are issues being discussed at the summit:
* ECONOMIC CRISIS - The global recession is expected to be the top issue at the summit. Analysts say prudent economic policies adopted by many Latin American countries have helped them weather the recession better than in previous decades, but officials say a drop of 1 percent in the region's gross domestic product could send 15 million people back into extreme poverty. The G20 summit approved a $1 trillion package of funding to help developing countries, with Latin America a leading beneficiary.
* SECURITY - Increasing violence in Mexico as part of the country's war on drugs has sparked concern in the United States. The Obama administration has beefed up security along the border to stem the flow of illegal arms southward and reduce demand for drugs. But security concerns, including crime fueled by the economic downturn and the drug trade elsewhere in the region, are widespread. The summit draft declaration has a section on strengthening public security.
Obama visited Mexico this week and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to combat the dangers posed by the drug cartels. He has also announced a new initiative to invest $30 million to strengthen cooperation on security in the Caribbean.
* IMMIGRATION - Some 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, with most of them coming from Mexico and Central America. Efforts to reform the system, granting some immigrants the right to stay while requiring others to return home and apply for reentry, failed in 2006 and 2007. Obama promised to work for immigration reform during the 2008 presidential campaign. Recent reports indicated he intends to begin a debate on immigration reform this year.
* CUBA - The United States has maintained its trade embargo on Cuba for nearly 50 years, even as other countries establish ties with the communist state. Exclusion of the impoverished Caribbean country from the Organization of American States and other multilateral institutions has become a sticking point for Latin American and Caribbean countries, who are demanding that Washington lift the embargo. Obama earlier this week eased aspects of the embargo, and he is promising a "new beginning" with Cuba, but he is calling on Havana to do its part by opening up more political freedoms for the Cuban people.
* WEAPONS TRAFFICKING - U.S weapons smuggling into Mexico is helping to fuel the violence there. Analysts say Washington could push for ratification of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. The convention, known by the Spanish acronym CIFTA, has been languishing in the Senate since it was adopted in 1997, analysts said.
* ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE - At a time of global recession and low commodity prices, the Americas leaders will look at ways of better using the hemisphere's energy and raw materials resources for the benefit of its 800 million people. Obama has proposed the creation of a new Energy and Climate Partnership, which he says will include plans to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Paul Simao)