SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC – Government representatives from 26 countries have called for a renewed agreement for international development cooperation to address the vulnerabilities of Latin America and the Caribbean linked to development challenges.
The delegates, who attended the First Session of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, said that the agreement should ensure that no one is left behind and that all people and countries must participate to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030.
The delegates, over 300, including experts from the UN System and regional and international organizations, as well as representatives of civil society, the private sector, and academia, also agreed on the need to strengthen synergies and partnerships with other stakeholders such as development banks, the private sector and regional and subregional integration mechanisms on matters related to international development cooperation.
Furthermore, the new intergovernmental body, a subsidiary body of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is to support member states on South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives.
President of the Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance,
Sabina Frederic said the conference, which ended earlier this week, has been a milestone that marks the start of a sphere of agreements on development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The presence and commitment of all the participating countries and governments show the degree of involvement with regional cooperation issues,” she stressed.
ECLAC’s executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, said the new geoeconomic and geopolitical context calls on countries to analyze and understand trends and to redefine political, integration, and economic growth partnerships.
“In this regard, the EU-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) relationship has unique and precious traits. The countries of the EU and LAC share many views about the type of development model to aspire to; a sustainable, inclusive, and productive model, with the Welfare States characterized by universal social policies.”
Salazar-Xirinachs said it is essential that Latin America and the Caribbean take advantage of opportunities for growth, job creation, and sustainability, not just as a strategy to invigorate its development but also as areas of opportunity for investment and cooperation with partners like the EU.
Salazar-Xirinachs specified that ECLAC had identified a list of at least 13 areas of opportunity for investment and cooperation, especially with a partner such as the EU.
The meeting also agreed to promote, in the context of international development cooperation, a comprehensive approach to risk and disaster management, with a gender perspective, based on the principles of preparedness, prevention, identification, mitigation, and response to reduce vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience and enhance the capacity of humanitarian cooperation to respond to disasters and emergencies.
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