The expert meeting was organized between ECLAC and the Executive Secretariat of The Council of Ministers of Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN), in coordination with the delegates of the Ministries of Finance, particularly with the Ministry of Finance of Guatemala. Officials from other national, regional and international institutions directly related to national public investment systems also participated, as well as international cooperation agencies that support this matter.

Objective

The purpose was to better understand the advances made towards strengthening national public investment systems in Central American Integration System (SICA) countries through processes that have included risk management, response to climate change, and environmental fiscal strategies. In addition, the meeting focused on understanding the progress made on capacity building in public investment, risk management, response to climate change and sustainability. Lastly, participants aimed to make recommendations for future involvement and agree on next steps.

Participants

The participants were mainly technical experts from national, regional and international institutions directly related to systems of national public investment, including the focal points for several Latin American countries of the Euroclimate + Project. A total of 52 people participated, of which 52% were men and 48% women. Of the total evaluations, 74% evaluated the seminar as excellent and 26% as good.

Themes

The expert meeting was divided into three work sessions. The first session focused on national public investment systems with presentations from Ministries of Finance, related national institutions, and other parties directly involved in public investment. The second session covered regional initiatives on public investment, climate change and risk management and was attended by officials from regional institutions that are part of SICA and have addressed the issue, as well as international organizations that have projects or have an agenda related to resilience in Central America. The third session consisted of participatory dialogue, discussion and consensus around the strengthening of public investment capacities for SICA countries and recommendations on risk management, climate change and fiscal and environmental sustainability.

Report

The final report of the meeting can be found by clicking here.