(20 July 2011) Government authorities from several Latin American and Caribbean countries, senior officials from regional and international agencies and renowned academics will come together at the ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, to take part in the International Seminar on State and Development.
The seminar will be held on Monday 25 July and will be opened at 9.00 a.m. by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Enrique V. Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB). Subsequently, former Chilean President, Ricardo Lagos Escobar, will give an address on "A State for the development of Latin America and the Caribbean".
The aim of the seminar is to examine the outlines of a new State architecture for development, as a follow-up to the ECLAC publication Time for equality: closing gaps, opening trails. It is hoped that discussions will also help the region's governments prepare for the 21st Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, due to be held in Asunción on 28 and 29 October 2011.
The seminar will be attended by well-known figures including Danilo Astori, Vice-President of Uruguay; José Antonio Ocampo, Columbia University Professor (United States) and former ECLAC Executive Secretary; Ernesto Ottone, Director of the Chair in Globalization and Development of the Diego Portales University (Chile); Dionisio Borda, Finance Minister of Paraguay; Temístocles Montás, Minister of Economy, Planning and Development of the Dominican Republic; José Luis Machinea, Dean of the School of Government of the Torcuato di Tella University (Argentina) and former ECLAC Executive Secretary; José Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS); Samuel P. Guimarães, High General Representative of MERCOSUR; and Heraldo Muñoz, Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
As part of the seminar, a ceremony will be held to unveil a bust of Raúl Prebisch, former Executive Secretary of ECLAC, who is considered one of its main inspirations, as well as to re-open the new parts of the Commission's building that were damaged during the earthquake in February 2010.
The media are invited to cover this seminar, which will be held in the Raúl Prebisch Conference Room of ECLAC (Av. Dag Hammarksöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago).
A preliminary programme for the event is available here (in Spanish).
Any queries should be addressed to the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section. E-mail: dpisantiago@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 210 2040.
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