The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presented this Saturday to the Ibero-American heads of state and government a document detailing fifteen opportunities “to promote growth, create employment and improve well-being in the region, through public policies, investments, public-private partnerships and international cooperation.”
The publication examines the economic relations of trade and investment in Ibero-America and reviews the main challenges facing the Ibero-American space. The delivery of the report took place within the framework of the XXVIII Ibero-American Summitwhich ends today in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and was attended by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.
The head of the organization stated that “in a framework of tensions and challenges, ECLAC wants to contribute to the dialogue not only a diagnosis of gaps and trends, but also the definition of areas of opportunity with great potential to promote growth, generate employment and improve well-being”.
Latin America occupies 15.3% of the surface and has 8.7% of the world population. In 2021, the participation of the Ibero-American Gross Domestic Product in world GDP was 8.6%, and by 2023 it is projected that, with the exception of Paraguay, the economic growth of the Ibero-American countries will be less than that registered last year. Five of the 22 countries that make up the bloc will have economic growth rates greater than 3%.
The report considers it “essential that countries take full advantage of the opportunities identified to recover investment and growth.” To achieve this, he stresses that “they must reorient development patterns towards more knowledge-intensive sectors, with higher growth rates of demand and employment, and that favor the diversification of exports”.
The importance of strengthening regional integration
The document also underlines “the proactive and dynamic role” that States and public policies must play “in the articulation of proposals and in the formulation and implementation of policies both in their sectoral and general dimensions.”
Likewise, it calls for the creation or revitalization of strategic alliances and collaboration in the Ibero-American space, and highlights that the sectors and areas identified as opportunities can also become vectors to strengthen regional integration and multilateralism.
“Iberoamerica has the great opportunity to actively participate in the design of the new international governance and defend their interests and aspirations in a framework of renewed international cooperation”, stressed the executive secretary of ECLAC.
Xirinachs indicated that to achieve this “it is essential substantively strengthen the processes and institutionality of regional integration and reach shared visions on specific issues”.
The head of ECLAC concluded that “crises must be opportunities for learning. For this reason, the analyzes and proposals in this document call for action and international cooperation to overcome limitations, take advantage of opportunities and create spaces of hope. That is the spirit in which ECLAC makes this document available to the Ibero-American countries”.
The fifteen opportunities identified in the document are divided into the following areas:
- The reconfiguration of global supply chains
- The energy transition and renewable energies
- The green hydrogen industry
- Lithium in the energy transition
- electromobility
- the circular economy
- the bioeconomy
- pharmaceutical industry
- The medical device industry
- digital transformation
- The export of modern services
- advanced manufacturing
- sustainable water management
- The care society
- sustainable tourism
