Following the approval of the Panam Sports strategic plan at their General Assembly in September 2018, the body is now looking to "implement and emphasise" the changes and priorities established within it.

Panam Sports President Neven Ilic said he was "very happy" with what was achieved at the meeting, which took place over two days in Miami.

"The main objective has been to get together, analyse priorities and establish a method for us to tackle new challenges," he said.

"We are in the most important year for Panam Sports, the year of the Pan American Games, which is why a team effort is fundamental for us to achieve success."

The strategic plan is based on four key pillars - the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the Pan American Games and Panam Sports itself.

Created with the assistance of LBB Strategies, it has been described as a "modernised vision" of the organisation for between 2018 and 2023.

Following suggestions put forward at the Panam Sports Athlete Forum in October, it has been decided at least one athlete representative must sit on the Executive Board of every Panam Sports member nation by 2020.

Panam Sports added that "increased emphasis" will be placed on using the Olympic Solidarity funds available to each NOC, to improve their facilities.

"Great strides were made in this area in 2018 and Panam Sports encourages more NOCs to take advantage of the programmes available to develop sport in their countries and the region", the organisation said.

Ilic added: "Some of our conclusions include to continue supporting our National Olympic Committees as we've been doing.

"We know we have 41 member countries and we are aware of the different realities and challenges of each, whether they be economic, political or cultural.

"We have implemented various programmes and analysed these during the workshop, receiving many great ideas to improve them."

With the Lima 2019 Pan American Games set to take place this year, how to ensure all future editions of the Games are successful was also discussed. 

It was decided increasing the number of Olympic qualifiers, decreasing the cost for host cities and evaluating the sport programme after each edition will all help increase the Games' value.

It was also confirmed potential host cities for the new Junior Pan American Games in 2021 are being "reviewed" and that the host will be announced at Panam Sports' next Executive Committee meeting in Costa Rica, on March 27 and 28.

Panam Sports said the venue for their Panam Sports Gala, to celebrate the 2019 Pan American Games, will be Fort Lauderdale in the United States. 

They are "continuing to research" the possibility of a Beach Pan American Games.