Background

The member States of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) decided, under Resolution 682(XXXV), approved at the thirty-fifth session of the Commission held in May 2014, to establish the Regional Conference on Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean as one of the subsidiary bodies of ECLAC. Among its objectives are to promote the improvement of national social development policies, foster international, regional, and bilateral cooperation among offices and institutions, examine multidimensional poverty, and advance the measurement of poverty, inequality, and structural gaps, in coordination with the work of various subsidiary bodies of the Commission.

The Presiding Officers elected at the Fifth Meeting of the Regional Conference on Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, held from October 3 to 5, 2023, in Santiago, are the following: Chile as President, and Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) as Vice Presidents.

In the framework of the Sixth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, the member countries agreed to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Presiding Officers in the week of March 24, 2025, so that the Secretariat could present a document that would contribute to the process of the Second World Summit on Social Development.

Ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean have been invited to exchange ideas on the proposed messages in this document, which was prepared in collaboration with the Presidency, in order to present them at the Second World Summit on Social Development and to define the region's priorities for advancing towards universal, comprehensive, sustainable, and resilient social protection systems.

Objectives of the Meeting

The working document titled “Latin America and the Caribbean at the Second World Summit on Social Development: Proposals for Inclusive Social Development” (LC/MDS.E-2025/3) will be reviewed, and the key messages to be presented at the Second World Summit on Social Development, to be held from November 4 to 6, 2025, in Doha, will be agreed upon.