“Latin America and the Caribbean must strengthen their regional, political and economic agreementsdeepen their ties of intraregional cooperation and promote with greater vigor a common voice in front of the world to face global asymmetries”, said this Tuesday the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs inaugurated the First Meeting of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbeana forum that he took advantage of to call promote partnerships for development among multiple actors and sectorsas well as at its multiple levels: North-South, South-South, and triangular and regional, among others.
At the meeting held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, the high-level representatives of the countries of the region agreed on the need to promote international and regional solidarity through development cooperation.
Said cooperation, they argued, is essential to face global crises, promote sustainable development and improve the standard of living of the population through the exchange of information, knowledge, technology, experiences and resource mobilization.
Salazar-Xirinachs affirmed that the region faces a deterioration in their investment and production conditionsand in the economic and social situation of its population.
Middle-income countries have been affected by the cascading crisisand the efforts to contain these crises have had economic and social effects, he said.
The head of ECLAC urged consider the vulnerabilities of the countries and subregions as a way to promote adequate regional cooperation for sustainable and resilient development.
He added that, in order to face the specific challenges of the countries, it is necessary to reconsider the criteria for measuring and classifying development.
Salazar-Xirinachs recalled that ECLAC has called for cooperation within the work areas defined by the countries that give rise to transformative initiatives with a vision of the future.
Response and recovery
The director of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, Cristina Bolaños Argueta, stressed that South-South and triangular cooperation are more essential than ever at this time when the world tries to intensify response and recovery activities, ” and of deal with the threat posed by climate change”.
For his part, Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, indicated South-South and triangular cooperation is imperative to implement the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and achieve the general objective of eradicating poverty in all its shapes and dimensions.
“The global challenges we face show how the importance that cooperation has gained in the region. With the resources allocated to cooperation for middle-income countries weakening, the solidarity of the global south has been crucial”, he emphasized.
The Secretary for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, Pilar Canceda, also participated in the meeting, who highlighted that South-South cooperation has developed in a very broad way 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.
Those attending the Conference will analyze for two days the challenges of international cooperation for development in the new global context and other associated topics of interest.
