ECLAC and Argentina discuss the relevance of comprehensive territorial development to close structural asymmetries

Authorities urged today to promote comprehensive territorial development to put an end to the historical and structural asymmetries that affect both Argentina and the rest of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and that give rise to multiple development gaps, during the inauguration of the National Daya preparatory activity thirty-ninth session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which will be held from October 24 to 26 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The National Day, inaugurated at the Palacio San Martín in Buenos Aires, was inaugurated by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC; Claudia Mojica, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Argentina; Eduardo de Pedro, Minister of the Interior of the Nation and Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, a country that will hold the Presidency of ECLAC from Monday.

“Territorial development is an issue that crosses all the countries of the region, whose profound territorial inequality is a structural feature resulting from accumulated asymmetries over time, which are reflected on different scales and give rise to multiple development gaps: from economic and social to those of infrastructure, environment and gender”, affirmed the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, in his opening speech.

The highest representative of ECLAC stressed that, although territorial inequality remains very high in Argentina, it is also true that Argentine society —through its political and institutional system— has not remained indifferent to this situation.

“There is a set of devices that help mitigate the effects of this inequality, from tax policy and the social protection system, to public investment policy in infrastructure,” Salazar-Xirinachs said.

He added that the territorial differences that are reflected in the living conditions of the Argentine population would be much deeper if there were no express policies for social protection that consider social and territorial gaps.

During his presentation, the senior United Nations official presented three new documents prepared by ECLAC to provide updated empirical evidence on territorial development and some axes of analysis.

The first of these works, entitled Asymmetries and Territorial Inequalities in Argentina. Contributions to the debate, offers an updated look at the main manifestations of territorial inequality in Argentina, including its evolution in recent decades, and analyzes the effect of the different institutional mechanisms and policy instruments implemented in the country to reduce them and promote a regionally balanced development, from social protection policies to investment in infrastructure.

The second document, carried out jointly with the teams of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, is entitled The Argentine science, technology and innovation system in a federal key. It describes the territorial coverage of the Argentine science, technology and innovation system —in which profound asymmetries are also verified— and analyzes the structure, location and relationships between the different agents and institutions that comprise it.

The third report, entitled Gender inequalities from a territorial perspective in Argentina, analyzes the specific way in which gender inequalities are manifested in the different regions of the country, emphasizing the economic autonomy of women. The document, which had the support and collaboration of the teams of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, focuses on the sexual division of labor, the unfair social organization of care and the obstacles faced by women and diversities in the labor market .

Claudia Mojica, Resident Coordinator of the UN System, stressed that Argentina contributes to the world through its commitment to multilateralism and “counts on UN Argentina to strengthen its position on the global stage, as evidenced by this presidency of ECLAC.”

The Minister of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro, meanwhile, stressed that territorial integrity in Argentina is currently considered not only in terms of infrastructure but also of everything that contributes to people’s quality of life.

“We understand that compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals aims at the comprehensive development of society,” the Minister stressed.

Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, for his part, stated that for Argentina to host the thirty-ninth session of ECLAC is a source of pride and responsibility.

In terms of territorial development, he stated that “we must know how to resolve the gaps of inequalities, territorial, gender, greater value added to our production and work.”

After the inauguration, the authorities present participated in three panels that addressed the challenges of territorial justice, the knowledge society, territory and development, and the closing of gender gaps from a territorial perspective.