(27 June 2012) The fiftieth anniversary of ECLAC's Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) will be celebrated with an international seminar taking place from 2-3 July 2012. Authorities of the region, former directors of the organization and other officials are expected to participate in the event.
ILPES was founded on 2 July 1962 in the aim of supporting Latin American and Caribbean governments in the field of planning and public administration by providing training, consultancy and research services.
The seminar to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Institute will be opened on Monday, 2 July at 11:00 am by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC Alicia Bárcena and the Director of ILPES Jorge Máttar, in Santiago, Chile.
During the first day, José Antonio Ocampo will give a conference entitled Planificación y desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe (Planning and development in Latin America and the Caribbean). Currently a professor at the University of Columbia, in the United States, he served as Executive Secretary of ECLAC between 1998 and 2003, and as Director of ILPES between March 1999 and October 2000, and once again in 2003.
Juan Temístocles Montás, Minister of Economy, Planning and Development of the Dominican Republic will provide his comments on the Colombian economist's presentation.
On the second day, former directors of ILPES Alfredo Costa Filho, Fernando Sánchez Albavera and Juan Carlos Ramírez will comment on a presentation made by former official Rolando Franco on the organization's history. The Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy of Costa Rica Roberto Gallardo will present his vision of the Planning challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean.
One of ILPES's main tasks is to promote discussion and reflection on the challenges faced by countries in their development strategies. Its work focuses on contributing to national and subnational efforts for improving the quality of public policies and strengthening institutional capacities.
As part of the Institute's commemorative activities, a new meeting of the Regional Council for Planning, an intergovernmental forum guiding the work of ILPES, will take place in Brasilia, Brazil, in November this year.
Besides, also during 2012, the institute will launch a series of publications presenting the Institute's history, its accumulated expertise and input given to countries in the region.
The media are invited to participate in this seminar, which will take place in the Celso Furtado and Raúl Prebisch Conference Rooms at the ECLAC's Headquarters in Santiago, Chile (Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura).
For further questions, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Unit.
E-mail: prensa@cepal.org ; tel.: (56 2) 210 2040
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