Virtual course on Regulation for digital trade and blockchain

This interdisciplinary course is designed for policymakers, researchers, and businesses who want to develop a critical understanding of digital trade regulations across the globe. The rise of digital trade, which encompasses trade in ICT goods, digital services, investment in digital economy sectors, and data movement, represents a new reality that our society is adjusting to. Regulating the digital revolution is proving exceptionally challenging, given also the pace at which it is evolving. The course will shed light on these issues by providing an introduction to the concept of digital trade…

ECLAC-OECD Workshop Women in trade in Latin America and the Caribbean: Data availability and methodologies

Women and men are affected differently by international trade and trade policies due to gender gaps, including disparities in participation in paid employment and entrepreneurship. To identify and estimate these differences, it is necessary to collect data that are disaggregated by gender. Specifically, gender-differentiated data is essential for analysing women’s participation in trade and is a key input into better, more granular policymaking. In recent years, there has been an international impetus to enhance data collection related to engagement in the trade of sub-groups within soci…

Eighth Meeting - Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development 2025

Pursuing Greater Alignment Between Trade and Sustainability: A Latin American Perspective

The seminar "Pursuing Greater Alignment between Trade and Sustainability: A Latin American Perspective" will be held on March 20 and 21 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. This event is co-organized by the ECLAC Office in Washington, DC, its International Trade and Integration Division, the "Remaking Global Trade for a Sustainable Future" project, and the Technology and Industrialization for Development Center (TIDE) at the University of Oxford. Its objective is to reflect, from a Latin American and Caribbean perspectiv…

CLACS legacy and the REAL development Challenges for LATAM regional Economics

For more than 60 years, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has worked to promote innovative research, specialist teaching, and public awareness of the Latin American and Caribbean region: its histories, challenges, and complex connections to the United States and other parts of the world. This conference seminar celebrates and builds upon the extraordinary contributions of Werner Baer and Geoffrey Hewings to the legacy of the Center. Through their inspiring, professional, and selfless work –with CLACS, with the Lemann Cen…

Roundtable for policymakers: Public Policies based on input-output approach

Plenary session on Public Policies based on input-output approach As part of the international input-output 2024 conference, which will take place between July 1 and 5 in Santiago de Chile at the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean, a Roundtable for policymakers has been organized in which four experts linked from various points of view will participate, with decision-making linked to policy applications. Some of the applications to review are the signing of free trade agreements, the analysis of the effects of globalization on trade, employment, and economic growth…

30th International Input-Output Association Conference and 12th Edition of the International School of I-O Analysis

Introduction We are delighted to announce that ECLAC, along with the International Input-Output Association (IIOA) will be hosting the 30th IIOA Conference at the ECLAC Headquarters in Santiago, Chile, between July 2 and July 5, 2024. This is a remarkable reflection of the close collaboration by the two global organizations in the development and promotion of methods, statistical data, analytical results, and policy application in the field of input-output. This event is supported by Andrés Bello University, the Central Bank of Chile and the Chilean Foreign Ministry. Moreover, in conjunction w…

Trade in Services for development - Empowering LAC countries to reap development dividends

Services have emerged as the driving force shaping the economic landscape of countries at all levels of development. Services trade has become a key element in growth strategies, becoming the most dynamic component of global trade in recent times. In 2023, the WTO and the World Bank jointly published a study entitled 'Trade in Services for Development', which underscored the significant and multifaceted development impact of trade in services and the important opportunities it offers to developing countries in terms of export-led growth, economic diversification, inflows of foreign direct inve…

Seventh Meeting - Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development 2024

The seventh meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development will be held in Santiago, from 15 to 18 April 2024.…

Workshop: Support programs to promote the participation of SMEs in cross-border e-commerce

CLOSURE FEALAC PROJECT Support programs to promote the participation of SMEs in cross-border e-commerce Date: Friday, March 22, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Chile time Hybrid workshop: Celso Furtado Room, ECLAC and online 1. Background From the last quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2024, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), implemented the project “Support the strengthening of policies to monitor and promote the participation of MSMEs in cross-border goods and services e-commerce for an inclusive and sustainable pandemic response and recovery in East …

Fixing a Leaky System: Creating Resource Management Systems for Used Textiles

Organised by: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe (UNECE) and for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) This session explores the global flows of used garments, and their reuse, recycling and disposal pathways. Taking the examples of Chile and Europe, the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions for Europe (UNECE) and for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) will present findings and policy recommendations from their joint report “Improving the sustainability of used clothing: Global, European, and Chilean perspectives''. Governments, UNE…

CORPYME Hybrid Workshop: Innovative digital technologies to support the participation of SMEs in international (electronic) commerce

The CORPYME project aims to promote innovative digital technologies in support of the participation of SMEs in international (electronic) commerce. As part of the dissemination activities of the work, ECLAC and the RED IBERO organize a hybrid workshop for the technical teams of the TPOs and other interested parties.…

Digital Trade: Building a Competitive Regulatory Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean

September 21 and 22, 2023 / Hybrid Event / Celso Furtado Room, UN-ECLAC, Santiago / Zoom…

Regional Workshop: Strengthening agrifood trade in the region to enhance its role in sustainable development and food security

Introduction In an increasingly fragmented, complex and conflict-ridden world, the concept of multilateralism is increasingly challenged. At the global level, collective actions by countries and regions with common interests are a particularly important external policy instrument. These collective actions are more important and urgent at this time when the world is undergoing profound and possibly enduring geopolitical changes, including in the food sector. These changes are also having a direct impact on the political, social and trade relations of the region with the rest of the world. Multi…

CORPYME Hybrid Workshop: Success factors of scalable programs for the digital transformation of exporting SMEs

REDIBERO-ECLAC-CELAC Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chile time In person: Celso Furtado room, ECLAC Virtual: By Zoom Background Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) represent only 6% of the region's exports. Yet, they constitute 99% of registered businesses and two-thirds of employment. Their small participation in exports is explained, in part, by their low productivity and the challenges they face in overcoming different obstacles to export beyond access to credit. The Trade Promotion Organizations (TPOs) –cooperating regionally…

Call for papers - XII REDLAS Conference regional integration in services

Background Services represent approximately two-thirds of GDP and employment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). However, this sector still represents a small part of the region's exports. Although services include several modern activities delivered by digital means and that are knowledge-intensive (such as telecommunications, computing, software, finance, and various types of creative and business services), most services in the region are traditional, low productivity, and informal. This situation has a negative impact on services exports, slows down the growth of the manufacturing an…

The articulating role of international trade in the circular economy in fashion: challenges and opportunities

Circularity in the used clothing trade would generate important benefits by extending the useful life of those garments that are in good condition, allowing people to purchase clothing at an affordable price, generating local employment, and reducing CO2 emissions and waste generation by substituting the production of a new garment. However, in some cases, exports of second-hand garments generate negative impacts on the destination markets. This occurs when the exported products are of poor quality, i.e. they are not able to meet the needs for warmth, or do not meet the climatic conditions of …

Rail as the backbone of sustainable transport for people and goods of the future

Background With seven years to go until 2030, the year in which the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be implemented, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have faced a challenging health, economic, social and environmental context. The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine reverted some of the progress in infrastructure, transport and logistics achieved before 2020. In this context, the transition towards sustainable and efficient transport to advance towards the achievement of the 2…

Sixth meeting - Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development - 2023

At the thirty-sixth session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), held in Mexico City from 23 to 27 May 2016, the member States adopted resolution 700 (XXXVI), Mexico Resolution, which established the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development as a regional mechanism to follow up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its means of implementation, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The Economic and So…

JRC/ESTAT – ECLAC Collaboration on FIGARO ACT II

Meeting of the JRC/ESTAT - ECLAC will discuss the collaboration on FIGARO ACT II. FIGARO tables are a new statistical product for economic modelling. Since 2021, they are produced annually, linking national accounts with data on business, trade and jobs for EU Member States and 18 main EU trading partners; a ‘rest of the world’ region completes the FIGARO tables. Date: 30 - 31 March 2023 Location: Seville, Spain Chair: José Manuel Rueda Cantuche Short Agenda: a) FIGARO framework and ECLAC IOTs b) Data collection and transformation process c) Main challenges and problems of assembling…