Delegates from 14 Countries in the Region and Other Actors Met in Montevideo with Sights Set on the New Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean eLAC2026

The Preparatory Meeting for the Ninth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Digital Transformation (eLAC) was held on March 12-14, 2024 in Montevideo, Uruguay, to debate and chart a course for building the new 2026 Regional Digital Agenda.

The three-day event brought together delegates from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries along with representatives of international organizations and public and private institutions from the region. Also participating were delegates from the countries involved in the EU-LAC Digital Alliance.

Welcome remarks were made by Hebert Paguas, Executive Director of the Agency for E-Government and the Information and Knowledge Society (AGESIC) of Uruguay; Claudio Araya, Undersecretary of Telecommunications of Chile; and Marco Llinás, Director of the Production, Productivity and Management Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) – all of whom stressed the importance of regional collaboration for overcoming current and future digitalization challenges.

During the event, ECLAC presented qualitative and quantitative data that reflected the current state of the eLAC2024 Digital Agenda commitments, highlighting the link between policies for digital transformation and for productive development, and projecting a vision for the future that would better harness the digital transformation.

The meeting included panels on which participants analyzed historical challenges such as the closing of connectivity gaps and digital skills development, the relevance of productive digital transformation and digital inclusion for well-being, and public digital innovation. They also shared innovative perspectives on how technology can be a catalyst for improving people’s quality of life.

In addition, they reviewed progress by working groups on the issues of the digital economy, meaningful connectivity, cybercrime and Artificial Intelligence (AI), along with the state of the Digital Agenda’s measurement commission. They also presented the Digital Development Observatory led by ECLAC, and analyzed challenges and opportunities in relation to measuring digitalization.

Furthermore, a panel on international digital cooperation took place, where participants analyzed the state of key processes such as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20), the G20, the Ibero-American Charter on Principles and Rights in Digital Environments, the Global Digital Compact and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, emphasizing the importance of creating synergies between them.

The event’s attendees also participated in a special session of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, addressing the issues of Artificial Intelligence and meaningful connectivity. The AI session featured a presentation by Jozef Sikela, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, who discussed AI’s potential relevance for industrial development and trade. Later, a presentation on the European Union’s law on AI was made by Juha Heikkilä, the European Union’s Senior Adviser on Artificial Intelligence. Regional experts and specialists from ECLAC also made presentations about the AI situation in Latin America and the Caribbean. After this, a dialogue was held to address the strategic opportunities that these issues pose for cooperation with Europe.

In the session on meaningful connectivity, speakers addressed the challenges of deploying the 5G network in the region, citing cooperation experiences led by German Cooperation in this area. On the basis of these technical dialogues, it is hoped that the EU-LAC Digital Alliance will promote the development of concrete cooperation activities.

The event also marked the launch of a project entitled Digital Transformation for Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, a joint initiative by German Cooperation and ECLAC. Through a laboratory of digital policies, regional projects and capacity building, this project seeks to further the regional digital economy, aiming to enhance regional scale, reduce transaction costs and improve resource coordination between countries.

This event was key for exchanging ideas and best practices between participating countries, and for identifying the main areas of action that will be addressed at the Ninth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Digital Transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile in November 2024.