October 2017 | ECLAC OFFICE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. (STUDIES AND RESEARCH PAPERS)…
Team Sheldon Mc Lean: Coordinator Michael Hendrickson: Economic Affairs Officer Ella Gaspard: Programme Management Assistant…
Following the successful implementation of the phase II regional dialogues across the world with each of the UN regional economic commissions, UNCTAD in close partnership with DESA-ESCAP-ECLAC-ESCWA will co-host a Global Policy Dialogue (GPD), which is an interactive discussion that will bring together representatives and officials of government MSME bodies, as well as competition agency representatives from across the world to discuss how competition policy could support MSMEs. The event will prioritise sharing experiences and best practices that have emerged during this crisis. The GPD will …
“It’s not possible to create a better future for work without creating a better future for production. These are two sides of the same coin,” José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), sustained this Thursday, June 1, 2023 at the inauguration of the ECLAC-ifo-PILLARS Workshop: Labor Market Effects of Automation and Technology Adoption in the Global Economy, which is being held in Santiago, Chile using a hybrid format (in-person and virtual). “In order to create decent jobs, it is indispensable that we focus on a pr…
The automotive sector is one of the sectors in which trade between mercosur countries has grown most strongly. This article examines the possibility that trade diversion occurred in that sector during the period 1991-2010, assuming that product costs fell as a result of market expansion. The analysis is based on the concepts of “cost reduction” and “trade suppression” coined by Corden (1972), which capture the effects of economies of scale. Indices of regional orientation and revealed comparative advantages are used in combination to assess whether the trade bloc is evolving in line with compa…
CONTENTS I.A new publication on groundwater international treaties.II. Spain and Portugal in water conflict.III.Hungary aims to end tug of war with Slovakia over Danube Dam by late 2005.IV. Bosnia and Herzegovina : Preventing municipal pollution of transboundary riversV. Water sovereignty and NAFTA in Canada.VI. Jordan, Israel, Palestinians agree on action to save shrinking Dead Sea.VII. CEC Secretariat recommends development of a factual record on Lake Chapala.VIII.Water Wars: A review of water scarcity and water conflict.IX. Officials say Mexico has paid half its water debt.X. Plans announce…
A public financial institution from Brazil, Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) will soon benefit from the established disaster assessment expertise of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean, as a team from the Sustainable Development and Disaster Unit (SDDU) visits from 1-4 March to present ECLAC’s disaster assessment training package to officials of the Brazilian Development Bank. The initiative follows other similar efforts to strengthen the ability of countries in Latin America and the Ca…
The XXVI Meeting of the Special Committee for Transport of the ACS was held on June 14th, 2018 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Meeting was Chaired by Panama, Chair of the Committee for the period 2018-2019 with the presence of the Dra. June Soomer, General Secretary of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) an organization for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean. The meeting was attended by ambassadors and officials of the embassies of the following countries: Antigua & Barbuda…
Premiers and senior government officials from the Caribbean’s non-independent territories have called for sustained cooperation in advancing resilient and sustainable development and identifying common responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, during a high-level meeting with Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Chair of the Commission, Costa Rica. United Nations’ Resident Coordinators and intergovernmental organizations serving the Caribbean also participated. On 15 March Bárcena participated in the “High-level meet…
Policy makers and children in Costa Rica will soon be better prepared to prevent and deal with disasters, as ECLAC Caribbean brings its disaster assessment package to the country. Officials from ECLAC Caribbean will visit Costa Rica from 3-5 August, at the invitation of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN) to deliver training, this time not to emergency responders but instead to government policy makers, with emphasis on disaster assessment, pre-disaster preparation, prevention and incorporation of risk reduction policies. The training will benefit the new environme…
Team Sheldon Mc Lean: Acting Coordinator Michael Hendrickson: Economic Affairs Officer Michael Milligan: Economic Affairs Officer Machel Pantin: Research Assistant Nyasha Skerrette: Research Assistant Lindy-Ann Edwards- Staff Assistant Alleyne:…
A recent training workshop facilitated by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean has “opened the eyes” of the Ministry of Finance of Saint Kitts and Nevis on how budgeting can be done “better”, according to Mr. Calvin Edwards, Deputy Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. The objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of public officials to conduct Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs) with applications to their respective sectors. PERs are intended to align expenditures with government’s pri…
A proposal to address the Caribbean’s high debt burden and strategies to achieve sustainable development in the region will be the focus of discussions when two important meetings of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC): the Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) and the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) convene in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, on 21 and 22 April 2016, respectively. The CDR brings together senior level policymakers from governments of the Caribbean; officials of the United Nations system; representatives of regiona…
This article analyses the impact of the increasing use of electronic means of payment on the demand for cash (banknotes and coins). It estimates two models: one with panel data and the other with cross-sectional data. The two methodologies offer complementary views for evaluating the degree to which electronic means of payment act as a determinant of currency in circulation. The study identifies an intense substitution process between cash and electronic means of payment, which is common to most of the economies analysed. However, there are also a number of idiosyncratic factors that explain t…
Both globally and regionally, the Rio+20 Conference comes at a time that differs radically from that of 1972, when the concept of sustainable development was coined. Globally, the world is confronting multiple crises: economic and financial, food security and climate change. The three are urgently calling for a new development paradigm, one that moves the world towards a "new deal." At the regional level, in 1972 environment was barely on the public agenda and in 1992 the region was stepping out of a "lost decade" of weak growth, high inflation, negative transfers and no political space …
Social innovation is a recently coined term which ECLAC has been working on since 2004. This project could confirm that the region is an “explosion” of social innovation as a response from communities, organizations of civil society and the government at different levels, to social problems that could not be solved with traditionally used models. It has been a key factor in improving the conditions of living for the people in the region, and without a doubt, it has contributed to the progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. ECLAC defined social innovation as new ways of man…
The 29th session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) concluded on 14 October in Paramaribo, Suriname. Some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the Caribbean were discussed at this meeting, inspiring a commitment to strategic action-oriented follow-up, to assure more dynamic sustainable development process. Convened by ECLAC Caribbean, the CDCC meeting is held every two years and gathers Caribbean Prime Ministers, Ministers and distinguished government officials, with a focus on strengthening their countries’ institutional and technical capacities to impr…
Team Omar Bello: Coordinator, Sustainable Development & Disaster Unit Artie Dubrie: Sustainable Development Officer Willard Phillips: Economic Affairs Officer Elizabeth Thorne: …
Twenty Government officials from Belize benefited from a one week workshop to build capacity in Conducting Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs), focusing on Applications for Education, Health, Agriculture and Social Protection. PERs are intended to align expenditures with government’s priorities. They are also intended to provide savings, either from expenditure reallocation or by reducing unproductive expenditures. In addition they improve fiscal management and can provide fiscal space especially when a country is experiencing high debt levels. The workshop conducted by ECLAC Caribbean, wh…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean has called on decision makers to create a subregional mechanism to facilitate the participation, engagement and collaboration of youth in development frameworks. This was one of the issues discussed at the Caribbean Forum on Population, Youth and Development during which senior government officials, youth experts and youth representatives agreed on priority actions to advance the regional youth development agenda. “The integration of youth into development processes is …