ECLAC Will Host the Third Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will host on April 22-26 the third meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, where representatives of governments, international institutions, the private sector, academia and civil society will gather to review the progress and challenges related to implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the region.

The gathering will take place at the central headquarters of the United Nations regional organization, located in Santiago, Chile. The Forum is convened annually by the member State that holds the presidency of ECLAC’s Committee of the Whole, and it will be carried out under the Commission’s auspices. On this occasion, Cuba will be the one to preside over the third meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, since that country has held the organization’s presidency since 2018.

The Forum was created via the approval of resolution 700(XXXVI), known as the Mexico Resolution, at the thirty-sixth session of ECLAC, held in May 2016 in Mexico City.

It was conceived as a regional mechanism for implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda, adopted in 2015 by the 193 countries represented in the United Nations General Assembly and which establishes 17 goals and 169 targets in diverse areas of development with a view to 2030.

This regional Forum is open to the participation of all the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, to representatives of national parliaments, other organizations of the United Nations System, organizations for regional and subregional integration, international financial institutions and development banks, the private sector, academia and civil society.

The mechanism seeks to provide useful opportunities for peer learning through voluntary reviews, the exchange of good practices, and the discussion of shared goals. Its conclusions are sent directly to the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development – the global mechanism for follow-up on the 2030 Agenda which convenes each July in New York.

During the third meeting of the Forum in Santiago, ECLAC will present a four-year report on regional progress and challenges related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, prepared by the organization in conjunction with United Nations agencies, funds and programs that have a presence in the region.

The meeting’s official activities include peer learning sessions that will address the challenges of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean; the institutional framework, planning and budget for the 2030 Agenda; subnational implementation of the 2030 Agenda; and statistical capacities, measurement and georeferencing.

On Thursday, April 25, meanwhile, an interregional dialogue between Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe will take place regarding implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

That same day, countries will review the regional dimension of the 2030 Agenda and the contributions of the United Nations system, as well as the contributions of ECLAC’s subsidiary bodies and relevant intergovernmental meetings to the agenda’s implementation. In addition, they will discuss multi-stakeholder contributions to its implementation.

On Friday, April 26, participants will engage in dialogues on the first four-year cycle of review of the Sustainable Development Goals at two roundtables that will address the “Integrated vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: critical links for implementation” and “Means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

The Forum will conclude with a special session entitled “Towards the General Assembly 2019.”

As part of the preparatory activities for the third meeting of the Forum, a Latin America and the Caribbean civil society consultation will take place on Tuesday, April 23.

At the second meeting of the Forum, held on April 18-20, 2018 in Santiago, Chile, representatives from 28 Latin American and Caribbean countries, 35 non-governmental organizations, specialized intergovernmental bodies and agencies of the United Nations system, along with more than 300 members of the private sector, academia and civil society, renewed their commitment to redoubling efforts to include all the sectors involved – public, private and civil society – to make progress on achieving the 2030 Agenda’s goals.

The full program of the third meeting of the Forum, along with general information on the meeting, is available on the gathering’s special website.

Journalists who wish to cover the meeting must register via this accreditation form.

Queries regarding press coverage of the meeting must be made to ECLAC’s Public Information Unit in Santiago, Chile.

Email: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 2210 2040.