Thirty-ninth session of ECLAC

Link to the website of the Thirty-ninth session of ECLAC

The session is the most important biennial meeting of ECLAC, since it offers a propitious instance to analyze issues relevant to the development of the countries of the region and examine the progress of the Commission’s activities. In consultation with the Presidencythe theme selected for this occasion will be production, sustainability and inclusion, which will be addressed in a document that ECLAC will offer as a reflection to its member states.

The session also allows the governments of the member states to learn, through the review of the activities report of the Secretariat, the work carried out by ECLAC in the last year and to define, by approving the work program and of the calendar of conferences, the mandates that will guide the future work of the Commission.

The period of sessions will be inaugurated on Monday, October 24 in the morning, with the presence of the President of Argentina Alberto Fernández, Foreign Minister Arnoldo André Tinoco of Costa Rica, in his capacity as Chairman of the thirty-eighth period of sessions, the Executive Secretary from ECLAC, Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs and the Secretary General of the United Nations, through a pre-recorded message.

Next, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC will present the main document, which will be commented on by important authorities. In order to carefully analyze the central theme of the thirty-ninth session, the Secretariat has organized a high-level seminar, in which ministers, representatives of the member countries, academic personalities and prominent experts will participate. This seminar, which includes four thematic panels, will take place during the afternoon of October 24 and the morning of October 25.

In the afternoon of October 25, the chairs of the subsidiary bodies of ECLAC and other intergovernmental meetings will report to the plenary on the activities carried out since the previous session.

The subsidiary bodies of ECLAC they are permanent intergovernmental bodies that examine various public policy issues in the region, facilitate cooperation and learning among peers based on comparative experiences, adopt regional consensus in their respective areas of competence, and generate mandates for the Commission.

The member states and associate members of ECLAC will also receive the report on the activities carried out and the results achieved within the framework of the work program of the ECLAC system during 2021, which includes the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning ( ILPES), as well as the draft Commission work program for 2024. The general objective of the program is to promote the economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean through international cooperation, through analytical, normative and promotional work, applied research and empirically based comparative analysis of the development processes, as well as technical cooperation and advisory and capacity-building services in support of regional development initiatives.

Finally, on the morning of October 26, the foreign ministers’ dialogue will take place, in which the foreign ministers will be able to share their reflections on issues such as the economic, social and sustainability situation of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the external shocks that have deteriorated investment and production conditions in the region in a context of persistent uncertainty aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that this will also be the first opportunity that the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, will have to speak directly with the foreign ministers about their vision and the role of ECLAC in the face of these challenges.

Finally, the member states will approve the resolutions of the thirty-ninth session.