SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC – Barbados has been selected as the host venue for the XVI Ministerial Forum for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean next year.
The island was chosen at the end of the Fifth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean and at the XV Ministerial Forum for Development in Latin America, which ended on Thursday.
A statement issued following the meeting noted that the conference will be held in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Sixth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024. The exact date of the meeting was not disclosed.
It noted that the presiding officers of the regional conference are now made up of Chile as Chair, with Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Venezuela as Vice-Chairs.
According to the statement, representatives of Latin American and Caribbean countries who attended the meeting here reaffirmed the importance of putting people and their rights at the heart of development, safeguarding the progress the region has achieved on inclusive social growth through appropriate social investment, and halting the setbacks prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and cascading crises.
The meeting was attended by an estimated 108 delegates from 18 countries in the region, representatives of United Nations organizations, financial institutions, development banks and cooperation agencies, members of civil society, and academics.
“To achieve a transformative recovery, the countries reiterated their conviction that the sustained creation of productive employment and decent work, together with comprehensive, universal, sustainable and resilient social protection systems that make it possible to ensure access to quality education and health, housing and basic services, and care policies that ensure co-responsibility between the State and society and between women and men, are indispensable,” the statement noted.
It said that the resolution approved by the delegates recognized “the importance of institutional frame we Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development to achieve the objectives of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
In that regard, they stressed the importance of moving forward resolutely to strengthen the four dimensions of the institutional framework for social policy to have high-quality public policies that are effective, efficient, transparent, and sustainable.
The delegates also stated that multilateralism and cooperation are essential to making headway on implementing the 2030 Agenda in the region, emphasizing the contribution of civil society and other stakeholders to discussing the Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development.
Furthermore, the resolution urges the social development ministries and equivalent entities to strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation mechanisms for growth, inclusion, and social protection.
It noted that the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean can serve as an exceptional platform for taking the region’s voice to the World Social Summit that will be held in 2025,
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