ECLAC Will Present to the Region Its Proposal on Structural Change for Equality

(15 August 2012) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will present to the region its proposal on structural change for equality during its thirty-fourth session that will take place in San Salvador, El Salvador, from 27 to 31 August.

The most important biennial meeting of this United Nations regional commission will be officially opened on Tuesday 28 August at 10.00 a.m. (El Salvador time zone) by ECLAC Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, and the country's Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugo Martínez.

The session will be attended by delegates from the 44 Member States and 8 associate members of ECLAC, as well as representatives from the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations. The event, which will be held at the Convention Centre of the Hotel Crowne Plaza San Salvador, will be broadcast online through the ECLAC website.

During the meeting, countries will have the chance to discuss the region's economic, social and environmental development, examine activities carried out by ECLAC during the previous biennium and set priorities for its work programme for the next two years.

In this context, ECLAC will present the document Structural change for equality: An integrated approach to development, which proposes a concrete path to long-term growth with equality and environmental sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This publication is the continuation of the reflection that began in Time for equality: Closing gaps, opening trails, which was launched during the thirty-third session held in 2010 in Brasilia, Brazil.

The new document studies the characteristics of the structural change that ECLAC is proposing for Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as putting forward a series of interlinked and complementary industrial, macroeconomic, social and labour policies that would enable this transformation process of the production structures of the region's countries.

The document also deals with the crucial role of the State and social and fiscal covenants in the road towards high economic growth with environmental sustainability and equal rights.

In the morning of Wednesday 29 August, the Committee on South-South Cooperation will meet, and on Thursday 30 August a high-level seminar will be held to discuss the new paper prepared by ECLAC. The thirty-fourth session will end on Friday 31 August with a dialogue among senior authorities.

See also:

• Interview with the Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, about the thirty-fourth session of ECLAC.

All media interested in taking part in the region are invited to register on the website of the thirty-fourth session of ECLAC.

The event will be held in the Hotel Crowne Plaza San Salvador (Address: 89 Av. Norte y 11 Calle Poniente. Colonia Escalón. San Salvador, El Salvador).

For exclusive interviews and queries, please contact María Amparo Lasso, Head of the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section. E-mail: prensa@cepal.org / mariaamparo.lasso@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 210 2040/+56979678306; or Daniela Estrada. E-mail: daniela.estrada@cepal.org; Telephone: +56981993349

In Mexico City, María Luisa Díaz. E-mail: marialuisa.diaz@cepal.org; Telephone: +56966079429.

In Brazil, Pulcheria Graziani. E-mail: pulcheria.graziani@cepal.org; Telephone: (61) 3321-3232/ (61) 9976-8030

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