ECLAC Executive Secretary presented in Spain a special edition of CEPAL Magazine with his vision for a more productive, inclusive and sustainable development

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, presented today in Spain the recent special edition of the ECLAC Magazinethe organization’s main academic publication, published on the occasion of the Commission’s 75th anniversary (celebrated in 2023), in which it provides its vision of the major transformations necessary for the region to advance towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable development model.

The senior United Nations official gave a keynote address based on the article he authored and published in the Journal entitled “Rethinking, reimagining, transforming: the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ to advance towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable development model”, at an event held at Casa de América in Madrid. He was received by León de la Torre Krais, Director General of Casa de América, and his presentation was commented on by José Antonio Sanahuja, Special Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union. The Ibero-American Secretary General (SEGIB), Andrés Allamand, was also present.

In his lecture, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs reiterated that the region is mired in three development traps: a low-growth trap, a high inequality and low social mobility trap, and a low institutional and governance capacity trap. In order to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the development challenges of the region, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC has identified a “decalogue” of structural gaps that constitutes a list of ten priority areas to promote major transformations in development models, that is, priority areas of action for public policy and collective efforts at transformation.

This decalogue, which defines a diagnosis and strategic directions on what to do to close the gaps, is joined by a fundamental cross-cutting area which are the questions and challenges related to how to do it? That is, how to manage the major transformations? This leads to the issues of governance, institutional capacities for effective public policies, social dialogue and the political economy of reforms. In terms of institutional capacities, these capacities are seen in four main categories: technical, operational, political and prospective capacities (TOPP capacities) which are part of the conceptual framework proposed in terms of how to manage the necessary major transformations.

Salazar-Xirinachs emphasized that Latin America and the Caribbean completed in 2023 a decade even more lost than the lost decade of the 1980s: it grew only 0.8% on average since 2014. This shows that low growth is not just a temporary problem but reflects the lower growth of the trend product in the region, he said.

“We are sick from low growth, and this is happening in the era of globalization, accelerated technological change, the digital revolution and now Artificial Intelligence. If we continue like this, we will lose social peace, become increasingly unequal and violent societies, have more people migrating, and lose democracy, because democratic life is incompatible with a stagnant economy and a frustrated citizenry with no hope for a better future,” he said.

“This special issue, marking the 75th anniversary, presents a vision of the challenges of economic and social development in the region under the new conditions of globalization and the global economy; it calls for rethinking, reimagining and transforming development models and policies in the region; and makes a series of proposals with an emphasis on the future that can help generate a new consensus on development and on how to move towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future,” explained the Executive Secretary.

The special edition of the ECLAC Magazine It includes 11 articles by leading ECLAC specialists, as well as by academics and officials from other institutions, on the ten areas of structural gaps that the United Nations regional economic commission sees today as fundamental challenges for countries to move forward in transforming development models.

In addition, this issue includes the text of the XVII Raúl Prebisch Lecture of 2023, given on October 30 by Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), entitled “Dislocated globalization: Prebisch, trade imbalances and the future of the global economy.”