(6 July 2010) The XI Summer School on Latin American Economies organized every year by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) began with the participation of 30 students with advanced economics and development studies from several continents.
Through this school, ECLAC experts share their research on the broad array of issues of the Commission's different divisions with the new generation of economists.
The course was inaugurated by ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, the Director of the Production, Productivity and Management Division, Mario Cimoli, the Academic Coordinator of the Summer School, René Hernández, and the president of the journal CEPAL Review, Osvaldo Sunkel.
"This School has been conceived as an experience of intensive learning, characterized by the creation of an instance for open and critical discussion and debate among our 'home' professionals and you, young researchers, so you can 'live' ECLAC with a vocation that combines dedication to research with an approach focused on political action and the design of public policies for development," said Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena.
Throughout the following three months, students will have classes on productive development, employment, macroeconomic, social, tax and agricultural policies, poverty measurement, international trade, financial regulation, regional integration, gender equality, technical progress and innovation, sustainable development, natural disaster assessment and infrastructure services, among other topics.
Along with ECLAC officials, they will also examine the document Time for Equality: Closing Gaps, Opening Trails, presented at the Commission's Thirty-third Session held recently in Brazil.
"The current international economic scenario makes this course very timely. What we will discuss throughout the coming weeks is how to design a development model from within our countries," said Cimoli.
This year's students come from South Korea (5), Argentina (4), Brazil (4), Cuba (3), Mexico (2), Colombia (2), Spain (2), Venezuela (2), Chile (1), Ecuador (1), United States (1), Greece (1), Italy (1) and Peru (1).
For enquiries, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section. Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040/2149.