Cooperation for development is a fundamental mechanism to promote international and regional solidarity and, at the same time, it is a solution to face global crises, agreed today authorities meeting in the First Meeting of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean which takes place until Wednesday, May 31 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.
The intergovernmental meeting, which brings together representatives of the countries of the region, the United Nations System and regional and international organizations, was inaugurated by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Adriana Cristina Bolaños Argueta, Director International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica.
The meeting included special interventions by Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina (video message); Pilar Cancela, Secretary of State for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, and Claudia Sanhueza, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, among other authorities.
“Latin America and the Caribbean must strengthen their regional, political, and economic agreements, deepen their intraregional cooperation ties, and more vigorously promote a common voice before the world to address global asymmetries. It must also promote alliances for development between multiple actors and sectors, as well as at its multiple levels: North-South, South-South, triangular and regional, among others”, affirmed the Executive Secretary of ECLAC in his inaugural speech.
He specified that the region faces a deterioration in its investment and production conditions and in the economic and social conditions of its population. Middle-income countries have been affected by cascading crises, and efforts to contain these crises have had economic and social effects.
In this context, he stressed that development cooperation is a solution to face global and regional crises and urged consideration of the vulnerabilities of countries and subregions, in order to promote respectful and adequate regional cooperation and solidarity for sustainable development. and resilient.
Likewise, he emphasized that, in order to face the specific challenges of the countries, it is time to reconsider the criteria for measuring and classifying development.
Finally, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs highlighted that “ECLAC, with the 2030 Agenda as a roadmap, suggests that cooperation within the work areas defined by the countries lead to transformative initiatives that have a vision of the future, are based on data, have a synergistic capacity, to transform reality and that call for and encourage multi-stakeholder participation”.
Adriana Cristina Bolaños Argueta, for her part, stressed that the First Meeting of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation constitutes a historic regional milestone in the field of regional cooperation.
“As the world tries to step up response and recovery efforts, and grapple with the threat posed by climate change to our very existence, South-South and triangular cooperation are more essential than ever,” he said.
Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, the country that assumes the Presidency of the Conference, affirmed that South-South and triangular cooperation are relevant tools, given that they contribute to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the general objective of eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions.
“The global challenges we face show the importance that cooperation has gained in the region. With the resources earmarked for cooperation for middle-income countries weakening, solidarity from the global south has been crucial,” she emphasized.
Pilar Cancela, Secretary of State for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, highlighted that South-South cooperation has developed extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean, thanks to the high degree of institutionalization of cooperation and the firm commitment of the institutions to strengthen ties between countries.
Claudia Sanhueza, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, meanwhile, said that the global and regional context has made it difficult for middle-income countries to have financing for development. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen the institutional framework in the field of cooperation to make it more strategic, collaborative and effective, she stressed.
After the inauguration, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC made a presentation entitled Advances and challenges for South-South cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in which he reiterated that international cooperation for development, in particular South-South and triangular cooperation, are fundamental for sustainable development and for improving the standard of living of the population through the exchange of information, knowledge, technology, experiences and mobilization of resources. He added that today, more than ever, South-South cooperation is called upon to think about transformative alternatives.
“Based on the leadership of the States, cooperation can be strengthened by combining the efforts of multiple actors, such as international organizations, development banks, civil society, the academic sector, and the private sector. In this lies the enormous importance of this meeting, ”he concluded.
During the First Meeting of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation, the participants will analyze the challenges of international cooperation for development in the new global context and other associated topics of interest. On Wednesday, May 31, the member countries will align positions and analyze cooperation mechanisms with a view to the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, to be held on May 17. to July 18, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
