(31 August 2012) Today the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) ended its thirty-fourth session in El Salvador, as representatives of its Member States and associate members embraced the integrated development approach outlined in the institutional document Structural change for equality: An integrated approach to development.
The most important meeting in the biennial cycle of this United Nations regional commission was held in the Salvadoran capital from Monday 27 to Friday 31 August. The meeting reviewed activities carried out by the Commission between 2010 and 2012 and established the priorities of its work programme for the next two years.
At the last day of the thirty-fourth session, there was a high-level dialogue attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Hugo Martínez, Brazil, Antonio Patriota, Guyana, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and Peru, Rafael Roncagliolo.
In this context, messages were read out from the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, and the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.
"I am sure this strategy of growth with equality and sustainability will contribute to development across Latin American and the Caribbean", said Ban Ki-moon.
President Rousseff said she wanted ECLAC to continue formulating regional thinking "that continues to make an effective contribution to help Latin American and Caribbean governments lift millions of people out of poverty and destitution, building a decent and sustainable future that includes all human beings".
During the closing ceremony, attended by Salvador Sánchez Cerén, Vice President of El Salvador, ECLAC Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, thanked the Government of El Salvador for hosting the thirty-fourth session and called on the region's countries to embrace the structural change for equality proposal put forward by the Commission, while taking due account of national particularities.
Delegates called on the ECLAC Executive Secretary to carry out studies and formulate public policy proposals, in close cooperation with policymakers, so as to strengthen national capacities in economic and social development.
Countries asked ECLAC to urgently adopt the measures needed to provide an appropriate response to the strategic challenges arising from the various activities being undertaken to define the development agenda beyond 2015, in accordance with the needs and priorities of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The meeting decided that the ECLAC Ad Hoc Committee on Population and Development should be renamed the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and also approved the establishment of the Conference on Science, Innovation and Information and Communications Technologies of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean as one of the subsidiary bodies of the Commission.
Delegates approved resolutions supporting the work that ECLAC does to monitor fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals and the implementation of the outcomes of international conferences in economic and social areas, as well as the work of the Statistical Conference of the Americas, the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) and the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee.
Agreement was also reached on organizing a meeting of the ILPES Regional Council of Planning, during the second half of 2013, while Bermudas, Curaçao, Guadeloupe and Martinique were accepted as associate members of ECLAC.
The draft programme of work of the Commission for the biennium 2014-2015 concentrates on such priorities as:
increasing macroeconomic stability and enhancing policies aimed at reducing vulnerability and mitigating the effects of economic and financial crises;
strengthening the region's access to financing for development and the financial market;
increasing the region's productive potential and reducing productivity gaps;
improving the region's position in the international economy through trade, cooperation and regional integration;
promoting a social covenant by focusing on development with equality;
enhancing sustainable development policies, energy efficiency and addressing ways of reducing and adapting to climate change;
strengthening public management to improve the State's role in achieving integrated development;
improving institution-building for the management of global issues.
Lastly, delegates decided to hold the thirty-fifth session of ECLAC in 2014 in Lima, Peru.
See also:
cepal.org
