LIMA, Peru, CMC – The 40th Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is underway here, with delegates reaffirming their commitment to initiatives aimed at ensuring more productive, inclusive, and sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
The ECLAC meeting ends on Friday. It has brought together governments and other stakeholders in the region to rethink, reimagine, and transform with a forward-looking and long-term vision as LAC seeks to build a future using strengthened and anticipatory governance.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Peru’s President, Dina Boluarte, said, “Peru commits itself to working resolutely to foster cooperation between our countries and carry out coordination to continue making progress on our development priorities.”
In a video message, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, stressed the need for strong multilateral cooperation to deliver sustainable development and urged turbocharging the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
“Member States reaffirmed the need for strong multilateral cooperation to deliver sustainable development at the Summit of the Future. The resulting Pact for the Future sends an unmistakable message: international cooperation is imperative for addressing the many crises we face today,” Mohammed said, highlighting ECLAC’s role in supporting countries to achieve sustainable development.
ECLAC’s executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, urged the region to act and take decisive, integrated, and coordinated action that would allow for overcoming development traps and moving towards a more productive, inclusive, and sustainable future, as well as to help build a better world in the international scenario.
He noted the world’s “unique and extraordinary time.” He applauded the approval of the Pact of the Future, adopted at the Summit of the Future held at the United Nations last month.
“At ECLAC, with the proper follow-up, the Pact for the Future can accelerate attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Salazar-Xirinachs noted ECLAC’s 75 years of contributions to the thinking and execution of economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, reaffirming its commitment to continue generating critical and innovative thinking adapted to current challenges and demands in the region and the world.
Following the opening ceremony, Salazar-Xirinachs presented a position document entitled “Development Traps in Latin America and the Caribbean: Vital Transformation and How to Manage Them” that outlines a new proposal for countries to consider what ECLAC regards as the vital transformations for overcoming the traps and closing the development gaps that are affecting the region.
“This is not just any document; it aspires to chart new courses in ECLAC’s thinking, research, and technical assistance, and it invites governments and societies to rethink, reimagine, and transform with a forward-looking or long-term vision to undertake to build the future using the strengthened anticipatory government.”
Salazar-Xirinachs said this is an innovative proposal emphasizing the importance of moving from the “what” to the “how” to achieve these transformations.
“In other words, it offers recommendations beyond lists of goals and aspirations, systematically addressing the challenges of governance, institutional capacities, the political economy, and social dialogue for successful transformations.
“With this document, we aspire to highlight courses of action that, with a combination of pragmatism and effectiveness, would fuel hope that a brighter future is possible in a region of peace, committed to development in democracy and to strengthened multilateralism and international cooperation,” he said.
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