Government delegates present at the Ninth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society of Latin America and the Caribbean approved today at the ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2026), which establishes policy priorities and actions at the regional level for the next two years in this area.
The meeting, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), brought together more than 350 representatives from 41 countries, 23 of them Latin American and Caribbean. Key actors from the public and private sectors, civil society, the technical community and international organizations participated, who exchanged experiences and best practices on digital policy priorities in the region.
“A new stage begins for eLAC in which we will prioritize action and concrete projects. A new stage in which we will accelerate efforts to advance real and effective use of digital technologies that allow us to get out of the development traps that afflict us: low capacity to grow, persistent inequality and weak institutional and management capacities. governance,” said Marco Llinás, Director of the Productive and Business Development Division of ECLAC, at the closing ceremony of the two-day intergovernmental meeting.
During the Conference, ECLAC presented the position paper Overcoming the development traps of Latin America and the Caribbean in the digital era: the transformative potential of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, which analyzes how the region can confront the traps of development through digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI).
In the closing session, Claudio Araya San Martín, Undersecretary of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications of Chile, highlighted the new work focus that the eLAC2026 Agenda approved today will have. “We want to take action and leverage digital technologies to improve the productivity and economy of our nations,” he said. “These days have served to collect experiences and initiatives that the different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are carrying out around new technologies, digital connectivity and their impact on society. It has been a fundamental instance to continue promoting and strengthening joint actions,” he noted.
The recently approved Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean towards 2026 (eLAC2026) consists of three axes, three thematic pillars and a set of strategic objectives. The objective is to promote more productive, inclusive and sustainable development in the region through digital transformation.
The first axis focuses on strengthening and promoting meaningful connectivity and digital infrastructure; the second relates to governance and digital security, while the third focuses on promoting innovation, emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) for sustainable development. Regarding the thematic pillars, the first refers to digital transformation for productive development; The second is linked to the digital transformation for well-being, and the third is aimed at the digital transformation of the State.
In line with the new stage that the eLAC is beginning, the attending delegates also approved that the eLAC Conference will be renamed the Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and the Digital Transformation of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Monitoring Mechanism of the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2026) will be organized into four levels of coordination and cooperation: the Ministerial Conference, the Board of Directors, the Focal Points and the Working Groups. ECLAC acts as Technical Secretariat of the eLAC2026 Mechanism and Digital Agenda, providing support through the Digital Development Observatory and the new Digital Transformation Policy Laboratory, launched on the opening day of the meeting in Santiago.
The Board of Directors was made up of Chile in the Presidency and Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay in the Vice-Presidencies. Finally, the countries agreed that the Tenth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Digital Transformation of Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in Brazil in 2026.
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