The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, today ended a three-day official visit to Brazil, which included activities in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, where he met with high authorities country and participated in a seminar on Financing for the Big Push for Sustainability.
During his visit to Brasilia, Salazar-Xirinachs was received at the Palácio do Planalto by Geraldo Alckmin, Vice President of the Republic and Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services. At the meeting, held on Wednesday the 7th, both authorities discussed the various areas of cooperation on issues related to sustainable development, neo-industrialization policies, electromobility, technologies and green innovation.
On Tuesday 6, meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC spoke with Ambassador Celso Amorim, Special Advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, with whom he discussed the challenges of economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean and the challenges of the Presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20), which from December will take over Brazil. Both authorities agreed on the importance of the region arriving with a single voice at the Summit on the SDGs, to be held in September 2023 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and at the Summit of the Future, which will be held during the same month of 2024.
The highest representative of ECLAC was also received in Brasilia by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, with whom he discussed tax systems, regional integration and ecological transition.
At the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Salazar-Xirinachs held a meeting with the interim Foreign Minister, Maria Laura da Rocha, with whom she discussed ECLAC’s role in promoting the development and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean. They also discussed topics such as South-South cooperation and the Brazilian presidency of the G20 in 2024. He was also received by the Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ambassador Gisela Maria Figueiredo Padovan, and by Ambassador André Correa do Lago, Secretary of the Environment Environment, Climate and Energy.
The intense agenda of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary included meetings with the Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet, and with the Minister of Development, Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger, Wellington Dias, with whom he signed a cooperation agreement to provide technical support to the country in terms of care policies.
Likewise, he spoke with Luciana Mendes Servo, President of the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and with Rafael Lucchesi, Director of Education and Technology of the National Confederation of Industry of Brazil (CNI), General Director of the National Industrial Learning Service ( SENAI) and Director-Superintendent of the Social Service of Industry (SESI).
He also shared with Ambassador Carlos Marcio Cozendey, Secretary for Multilateral Affairs of the Itamaraty Palace, in a meeting in which Silvia Rucks, Resident Coordinator of the UN in Brazil, and representatives of United Nations agencies, funds and programs in Brazil also participated. the country.
At the beginning of his official mission to Brazil, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs visited Rio de Janeiro where he participated in the inauguration of the seminar Funding for the Big Push for Sustainabilitywhich was held on Monday, June 5, within the framework of World Environment Day, at the headquarters of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), organized by ECLAC, BNDES and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES -Brazil).
On the occasion, he urged the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to take a turn in the transformation of their development model to move towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future. “We need a reactivation with transformation,” emphasized the highest representative of ECLAC.
Within the framework of the seminar, ECLAC and FES-Brasil presented the document Financing the Big Push: Pathways to unblock the social and ecological transition in Brazil (Financing the Big Push: caminhos para destravar a traição social e ecologica no Brasil).
The visit of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary to Rio de Janeiro included a bilateral meeting with Aloizio Mercadante, President of BNDES, with whom he agreed to deepen the alliance between ECLAC and BNDES, as well as a new phase of strengthened collaboration. In particular, it was agreed to create the BNDES-CEPAL +70 Working Group, alluding to the working group that both organizations held in the past, with the aim of promoting research and training on issues related to sustainable development in Brazil and the region. .
Later, the senior official visited the Oswaldo Cruz – Fiocruz Foundation, where he signed the extension of a joint strategic cooperation agreement in research and development.
