Enrique Peña Nieto: “Today I Ratify Mexico's Commitment to Integration and Sustainable Development"

"Today I ratify Mexico's commitment to the integration and sustainable development of our region so that the Americas can be a hemisphere of inclusion and prosperity," Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said today at the inaugural ceremony of ECLAC's thirty-sixth session, which will be held through Friday, May 27, in Mexico City.

At the opening of the gathering in the Los Pinos Official Residence, other speakers included the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Alicia Bárcena, Peruvian Minister of Development and Social Inclusion Paola Bustamante, and the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (in a video message).

"ECLAC's work is indispensable for building a region united around well-being, inclusive development and prosperity," said Peña Nieto, who recognized the important work of his compatriot, Alicia Bárcena, at the head of the United Nations regional organization. “Being equal to grow and at the same time growing to be equal. That is ECLAC's mission, it is the aspiration that our societies share and it is the reason why we will continue working jointly and progressing together," he said.

Accompanied by Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and another 10 ministers and senior officials from the Federal Cabinet, as well as the Constitutional Governor of the State of Oaxaca and President of the National Conference of Governors, Gabino Cué Monteagudo, the Mexican Chief of State indicated that "the participation of society, the consistency among public policies, a rights-based approach, a commitment to certainty to create value and a sustainable vision of development are essential elements for achieving the development with equality that ECLAC promotes."

In addition to thanking the president and the Mexican authorities for hosting ECLAC's most important biennial meeting, Alicia Bárcena recognized that the region and the world are going through a complex economic situation in the framework of a development model that has profound imbalances, which motivated the international community's approval of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development last year.

"Mexico and the region played a central role in the process of negotiating the 2030 Agenda, and we know that they will do so in its follow-up," Bárcena said. "Overcoming this difficult moment that we are living through, managing to align our development trajectory with aspirations such as those contained in the 2030 Agenda, requires the integrated implementation of economic, industrial, social and environmental policies along the lines of the progressive structural change that ECLAC proposes."

The Commission, Bárcena added, "considers that the environmental goals and challenges represent a great opportunity for a technological and productive transformation that can be the foundation for creating quality jobs and spurring greater growth and more equality. This is not a technical proposal, it is above all a political endeavor."

"This is about giving a great economic boost based on the environment, or an environmental big push," stressed the Executive Secretary, who also called for developing a new international governance, with new coalitions between the State, the market and society for the provision of global public goods.

Meanwhile, Paola Bustamante, the Peruvian Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, stated that her country "gave the broadest possible political support to the 2030 Agenda, not only because it participated actively in the process of its definition but also because it constitutes a political and above all ethical commitment to efforts for the well-being of our populations."

Peru hosted ECLAC's last session in 2014 and formally turned over the presidency of the Commission today to Mexico for the next biennium. Alicia Bárcena gave special thanks to the South American country for its leadership in the last two years.

Via a recorded message, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "Latin America and the Caribbean helped place equality at the centre of the Agenda. Now we must move from vision to reality —with governments, the private sector and civil society working together."

The UN's highest representative thanked Alicia Bárcena in particular "for her leadership and vision" on this issue.

Those attending ECLAC's session include delegates from its 45 member States and 13 associate members, as well as international officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, scholars and special guests.

In this space for regional debate participants are discussing the economic, social and environmental matters most relevant for Latin American and Caribbean countries, and they will approve the Commission's work program for the next biennium.

On Wednesday, May 25, a roundtable will be held about the regional dimension of follow-up to the 2030 Agenda and on Thursday, May 26, a seminar with panels dedicated to macroeconomic, industrial and social policies will take place, with the participation of ministers of Finance, Economy and Industry and Social Development from the region.

That same day, Alicia Bárcena will officially present the document Horizons 2030: Equality at the Centre of Sustainable Development, the organization's latest strategic proposal, which addresses the 2030 Agenda analytically and operationally from the perspective of realities in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

At the closing ceremony, which will take place on Friday, May 27 after a dialogue of foreign ministers and senior authorities from the region, the meeting's resolutions will be unveiled.

The complete program of ECLAC's thirty-sixth session, as well as general information about the meeting, is available at the gathering's special web site: ://periododesesiones.cepal.org/36/en.

You can follow all the details of the meeting on social media using the hashtags #Horizontes2030 and #Horizons2030.

More information:

• Web site. Thirty-sixth session of ECLAC.
• Video. Inauguration ceremony of ECLAC's thirty-sixth session.
• Speech by ECLAC's Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena.
• Press release. ECLAC Recognizes Mexico's Leadership in the Forging and Follow-up of the 2030 Agenda.
• Complete document. Horizons 2030: Equality at the Centre of Sustainable Development.

For questions related to press coverage, contact:
 

In Mexico City: María Luisa Díaz de León, Public Information Official, ECLAC’s Subregional Headquarters in Mexico. E-mail: marialuisa.diaz@cepal.org; Telephone: (52 55) 41705665. Cell Phone: (5255) 5416 9297.

Félix Ibáñez, Officer-in-Charge of ECLAC’s Public Information Unit. E-mail: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56) 22210 2040. Cell Phone: (569) 7 967 8306.

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