Washington ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama 's trip to Cartagena , Colombia , will be historic from the moment Air Force One touches down Friday . His weekend visit will mark the longest time a U.S. president will have spent in that country , where security concerns had limited previous presidential trips . During his visit for the sixth Summit of the Americas , the president plans to focus on the economy , trade , energy and regional security . He 's also expected to highlight some of the democratic and social reforms in the region . In a speech Friday in Tampa , Florida , en route to Cartagena , Obama announced a new program that the White House is calling the Small Business Network of the Americas , which he said would help businesses get financing and counseling on how to access new markets south of the U.S. border . `` This initiative is going to help our small business . Latino-owned businesses , '' he said . `` Women-owned businesses . African-American-owned businesses . '' But the agenda may be driven by other concerns that have been debated by the Latin American leaders long before they arrived for the summit . Cuba , which is not a member of the Organization of American States , is not invited to join the 34 other leaders . `` This is a point of contention , '' said Ted Piccone , a Brookings Institution senior fellow who specializes in U.S.-Latin American relations . `` There is a lot of disagreement about the U.S. policy toward Cuba . ... Cuba does n't have a democratically elected government and therefore does n't meet the criteria , '' he said . But that did n't stop Ecuador 's leftist President Rafael Correa from stoking the fire to get Cuban leader Raul Castro a seat at the table . Correa threatened to put together a boycott with other leaders in the Bolivian Alliance ( Venezuela , Bolivia and Nicaragua ) , which led to intense diplomacy behind the scenes . Inviting Castro would have certainly caused problems for Obama , especially in an election year . During the previous summit three years ago in Port of Spain , Trinidad , Obama had an uncomfortable encounter with Hugo Chavez , when the Venezuelan leader handed him a book critical of the United States and Europe . Colombian officials were clearly aware of the potential fallout in this case , so the country 's foreign minister was dispatched to Cuba . Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos himself then flew to Cuba to meet with Castro . Those meetings effectively ended the dispute , but Ecuador 's Correa was angry . He fired off a letter to Santos criticizing the veto of Cuba 's participation as `` intolerable . '' Then he boycotted the summit , even though the other leaders who had supported his appeal confirmed they would attend . Piccone , of the Brookings Institution , said some leaders in the region are frustrated with what they view as a leftover Cold War attitude in the United States toward Cuba , and they are pushing for changes . `` My concern is that if it is fixed at the cost of abandoning the democratic rules of the group , that would too high a price to pay , '' Piccone said . The high price being paid in the drug war across Latin America is also fueling a debate . At a recent meeting at the White House with the leaders of Mexico and Canada , Obama was blunt about the ongoing threat in a region where some of the leaders believe the drug war is failing . `` Beyond our borders , these cartels and traffickers pose an extraordinary threat to our Central American neighbors , '' Obama said . One possible solution that some of those neighbors discussed is decriminalizing drugs . But on a recent trip to Mexico , a country that has been ravaged by drug-related violence , U.S. Vice President Joe Biden rejected that idea . `` There is no possibility that the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy on legalization , '' he said . While this debate wo n't dominate the discussions at the summit , it could make headlines . National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told CNN , `` It 's likely the issue will come up , and we welcome the discussion . However , our policy is different , '' he said . The unscripted moments are likely to be the most interesting at the summit as there is no significant agreement expected on any of the major issues . CNN 's Rafael Romo contributed to this report .
President Obama is making the longest U.S. presidential visit to Colombia . Obama announces a program to help U.S. businesses access southern markets . The sixth Summit of the Americas wo n't include Cuba , however . The hemisphere 's drug war is expected to be addressed .