Countries reaffirm their commitment to more productive, inclusive and sustainable development for Latin America and the Caribbean

Representatives of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean today reaffirmed their commitment to more productive, inclusive and sustainable development, during the inauguration of the Fortieth session of ECLACwhich takes place until Friday, October 11 in Lima, Peru.

At the opening of its most important biennial meeting, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) invited the governments and societies of the region to rethink, reimagine and transform with a prospective and long-term vision to assume the construction of the future under strengthened and anticipatory governance.

The meeting was inaugurated by Dina Boluarte, President of Peru; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (by video), and José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC. Samuel Ortiz, Ambassador of Argentina in Peru, also participated in his capacity as representative of the country that held the Presidency of the thirty-ninth session of ECLAC.

During her speech, President Dina Boluarte highlighted the work of ECLAC and underlined the organization’s contribution to strengthening the relationship between the countries of the region, as well as to the coordination of positions on development in international forums.

“Today, Peru ratifies its commitment to multilateralism, to the United Nations system and to ECLAC. During the Presidency of the Commission, which we will receive today from Argentina, Peru is committed to working decisively to promote cooperation between our countries and carry out coordination to continue advancing our development priorities,” stated the president.

Through a video message, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, emphasized the need for solid multilateral cooperation to achieve sustainable development, and urged to give a double impetus to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

“At the Future Summit, Member States reaffirmed the need for strong multilateral cooperation to achieve sustainable development. The resulting Pact for the Future sends an unequivocal message: international cooperation is an imperative to address the multitude of crises we face today,” stressed Amina Mohammed while highlighting the role that ECLAC plays in supporting the countries to achieve sustainable development.

For his part, the Ambassador of Argentina in Peru, Samuel Ortiz Basualdo, representing the outgoing Presidency of ECLAC, recognized the significant impact of ECLAC on academic thought and public policies in the region.

In his inaugural speech, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, urged the region to act and undertake decisive, integrated and coordinated actions that allow it to overcome development traps and move towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future. sustainable, as well as to help build a better world on the international stage.

The highest representative of ECLAC highlighted “the unique and extraordinary moment” that the world is going through and celebrated the approval of the Pact for the Futureapproved at the Future Summit held in September at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

“At ECLAC we believe that, with adequate follow-up, the Future Pact can be an accelerator for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Likewise, he celebrated the 75 years of contribution of the regional organization to the thought and practice of economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to continue generating critical and innovative thinking, adapted to current challenges and demands. , both regional and global.

After the inauguration, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs presented the position document entitled Latin America and the Caribbean facing development traps: Essential transformations and how to manage them which submits for the consideration of the countries a new proposal on how to manage what ECLAC sees as the essential transformations to overcome the traps and close the development gaps that affect the region.

“This is not just another document, but rather it aspires to mark new directions in the thinking, research and technical assistance of ECLAC and invites governments and societies to rethink, reimagine and transform with a prospective or long-term vision to assume the construction of the future under a strengthened and anticipatory governance,” he stated.

He added that it is an innovative proposal that emphasizes the importance of moving from “what” to “how” to achieve transformations. That is, it offers recommendations that go beyond lists of objectives and aspirations, by systematically addressing the challenges of governance, the capacities of institutions, political economy and social dialogue to achieve successful transformations.

“With this document we aspire to point out directions that feed, with a combination of pragmatism and effectiveness, the hopes that a better future is possible, in a region of peace, committed to development in democracy and with strengthened multilateralism and international cooperation” , he concluded.

The institutional document presented by ECLAC was commented by a panel that was moderated by Elmer Schialer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, and in which Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) participated. ; Piero Ghezzi, International expert in economic development and informality and former Minister of Production of Peru; Luis Bértola, Professor of the Economic and Social History Program at the University of the Republic of Uruguay, and Eric Parrado, Chief Economist and General Manager of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

After the presentation, foreign ministers and high authorities of the ECLAC member countries discussed the development challenges of the region.

During the three-day meeting, the authorities will also participate in a high-level seminar made up of four thematic tables that will address four of the eleven essential transformations identified: how to achieve higher, sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth; how to reduce inequality and promote inclusion and social mobility, how to promote sustainability and confront climate change; and how to mobilize financial resources for development.

The meeting marks the beginning of the exercise of the presidency of ECLAC by Peru, which will extend until the next period of sessions (in 2026), and the end of the current presidency, held by Argentina (due to the fact that it has been the host country of the 39th session, held in Buenos Aires in 2022).