Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean adopted the methodological proposal prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to develop a regional strategy for the implementation and follow-up of the commitments adopted during the Second World Summit for Social Development (Qatar, November 2025). The strategy includes five stages: prioritizing a set of action areas, establishing baselines for indicators in these areas, following up on progress, highlighting good policy practices, and fostering regional cooperation and exchange. 

The agreement took place at the Seventh meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean held on Tuesday, 20 October during the XVIII Ministerial Forum for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with ECLAC.

The proposal was prepared by ECLAC under the leadership of the Government of Brazil, the country currently serving as Chair of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference. This proposal is a series of indicators and policy recommendations that seek to accelerate achievement of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and implementation of the commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development (1995), as well as the Doha Political Declaration (2025).

The meeting was inaugurated by Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division of ECLAC, on behalf of Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs; Rafael Guerreiro Osório, Secretary of Evaluation, Information Management, and the Single Register of the Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family Affairs and the Fight against Hunger of Brazil; and Roberto Arosemena, Deputy Minister of Social Development of Panama.

Alberto Arenas de Mesa thanked the countries for their constant commitment to strengthening the region’s social agenda and emphasized that “the ECLAC Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean is an important intergovernmental space in the region for dialogue, sharing experiences, and building agreements related to social development.”

“Today’s meeting is also particularly relevant. We have been called upon to move forward with a regional proposal for the implementation and follow-up of the commitments contained in the Doha Political Declaration of the Second World Summit for Social Development, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2025,” stated the ECLAC official.

Rafael Guerreiro Osório, on behalf of the Chair of the Regional Conference on Social Development, gave an account of some of the activities completed since the Sixth session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Brasilia in September 2025, noting that the resolution adopted during said meeting “highlights the fact that, despite the progress made, Latin America and the Caribbean still face significant challenges, especially in the fight against poverty, hunger, and social inequalities.”

For his part, Roberto Arosemena, Deputy Minister of Social Development of Panama, stated that “for Panama, hosting this Seventh Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development is a very important opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to strengthening regional spaces for dialogue and conciliation.”

The meeting also included the participation of Héctor Cárdenas, Executive Director of the Technical Unit of the Social Cabinet of Paraguay; Juan Herrera, Deputy Director of Operations of the Social Development Directorate “Supérate” of the Dominican Republic; Carlos Guevara Mann, Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama; and Bettina Woll, Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNDP.

Among the meeting’s agreements, countries asked ECLAC, in coordination with the Chair of the Presiding Officers, to prepare a first report on the progress made in the application of the regional strategy for the implementation and follow-up of the Doha Political Declaration in Latin America and the Caribbean to be presented at the Seventh session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held in the second half of 2027 in Paraguay.

The current Presiding Officers consist of Brazil as Chair, with Barbados, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay serving as Vice-Chairs.

During the XVIII Ministerial Forum for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC also organized two side events.

One of these included the presentation of the document “Promoting labour inclusion through social protection: recommendations for policy design, which brings together experiences and instruments oriented toward formalization, labour intermediation, training, independent work, money transfers, and care, with special attention paid to more vulnerable populations and challenges related to gender inequalities and other types of inequality.