Countries of the region approved the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean eLAC2024

The Eighth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean concluded in Montevideo. Delegates of the countries present at the Eighth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean approved today in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2024), which establishes a set of policy priorities and actions at the regional level for the next two years. The Conference was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as Technical Secretariat, together with the Government of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, through the Agency for Electronic Government and Information Society (Agesic). . In the Montevideo Declaration, also a result of the meeting, the countries pledged to “continue strengthening regional cooperation activities in digital matters within the framework of the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean by preparing a program of activities for cooperation for the period 2022-2024, facilitating dialogue, the exchange of experiences, knowledge management and capacity development”. The eLAC2024 Agenda brings together 31 objectives distributed in four axes, and in it the gender perspective is transversal. The first of the axes of the Agenda is linked to infrastructure, connectivity, the development of skills and competencies. The second is related to the digital economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability, while the third incorporates topics such as inclusion and the digital transformation of the State. Finally, the fourth axis refers to the generation of new alliances and contemplates actions related to commercial integration, the regional digital market and cooperation. Digital technologies are essential instruments to boost the productivity and growth of countries and have significant effects in various critical areas for development such as health, education and government services, the countries acknowledge. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes among its main goals significantly increasing access to information and communication technologies and striving to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in the least developed countries. Precisely, the first objective of the eLAC024 Agenda approved by the countries proposes “to promote the availability of affordable and quality broadband connectivity for all people, with special emphasis on people in vulnerable conditions, and in neglected and underserved areas , remote and border areas and rural and semi-urban areas, taking into account complementary solutions such as community networks”. 2022 marks the 17th anniversary of the adoption of the first Action Plan on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Rio de Janeiro, in 2005. This plan had the objective of consolidating a common vision on the role of digital technologies to promote development. The Ministerial Conferences on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean have been conducive to renewing regional agreements in this area. At the meeting in Uruguay, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, presented the document A digital path for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which proposes various measures and actions to move towards an inclusive and sustainable digital transformation in the region. In the Montevideo Declaration, the countries thanked the leadership of the Government of Ecuador in the exercise of the presidency of the Board of Directors of the Ministerial Conference and the coordination of the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean during the period 2020-2022. Finally, the countries thanked the Government of Chile for its offer to continue the process of the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean and to host the Ninth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024. The Eighth Ministerial Conference was attended by delegates from 14 countries in the region, from six agencies of the United Nations System and from 12 intergovernmental organizations, as well as representatives of financial institutions, development banks and cooperation agencies, the private sector, academia and of civil society.