Watch video “Time for equality” (in Spanish, subtitles in English)
(28 March 2011) "Latin America and the Caribbean can safely take on its role in the new inclusive world scenario", according to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, speaking today.
The senior United Nations official was taking part in the second plenary session of the 52nd annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), being held today in Calgary, Canada.
"The time for equality has arrived in the region", she declared. She proposed six pillars for a new economic strat…
(16 February 2011) During a two days visit to Ecuador and Peru, which concluded yesterday night, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, called on both South American countries to further strengthen their democratic institutions and extend the benefits of development to the most disadvantaged populations, including indigenous peoples.
Officials accompanying Ban Ki-moon included the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernández-Taranco, as well as other senior UN representatives.
In Quito, the UN Se…
(21 October 2011) To mark 66th anniversary of the United Nations, authorities and representatives of agencies of the United Nations System in Chile will celebrate United Nations Day on Monday 24 October, at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Santiago.
United Nations Day 2011 will be dedicated to the memory of Dag Hammarskjöld, the former Secretary General of the United Nations (1953-1961) 50 years since his death. Hammarskjöld died on 18 September 1961 while on an official mission in the Congo.
The event will take place at 11 a.m. and will be le…
(29 June 2011) Today the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, met with President Fernando Lugo to discuss matters of interest to Paraguay and the region as a whole, ahead of the 41st MERCOSUR summit meeting in Asunción.
The most senior representative of ECLAC, who has been invited to take part in this bi-annual meeting of MERCOSUR Heads of State, described Paraguay's economic situation as very good.
According to the senior United Nations official: "Last year the economy grew by over 15% and this year it is expected by grow…
(19 May 2011) According to the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, who was visiting Montevideo, Uruguay: "We believe that there is a window of opportunity for boosting the strategic partnership between Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union".
The senior United Nations official gave a presentation entitled "Opportunities for deepening relations between Latin America and Europe" at the 5th Ordinary Plenary Session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) being held there.
"We must strengthen cooperation to deepen integration in the region itself, im…
(24 October 2011) Today, directors and representatives of agencies of the United Nations in Chile, together with local authorities, ambassadors and international officials, celebrated United Nations Day with a tribute to the former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, who died 50 years ago.
The commemoration ceremony of the 66th anniversary of the international organization was held at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Santiago and was dedicated to the memory of the former Swedish diplomat who led the United Nations between 1953 and 1961.
"Dag H…
(14 November 2011) The Sixth meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC (SCA-ECLAC) will talk place in Bávaro, Dominican Republic, from 16 to 18 November 2011 during which authorities and experts will analyse various issues relating to the development of statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean.
During the meeting, ministers, directors of national statistical offices, officials from other public institutions and central banks, and specialists from international organizations will focus discussions on the development of environmental statistics, the 2010 round of popul…
(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 o…
(15 June 2011) The most senior officials of the five United Nations regional commissions met on Tuesday in Geneva as part of a high-level panel, in order to analyse the importance of decent work in the context of greener and more sustainable globalization.
The meeting was held as part of the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in response to an invitation made by the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavía, in January at the ECLAC headquarters during the first 2011 coordination meeting for heads of the UN regional commissions, a group…
(13 April 2011) Latin America and the Caribbean are facing the following double shock: rising commodity prices and the growth in global liquidity. Faced with increased inflows of foreign capital inflows to the region, it is vital to think back to past crises and learn the lessons they have to offer, stated Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
Today in Santiago, Chile, this senior United Nations official opened the Workshop on macroeconomic policies: global integration and international financial markets, which brings together economic authorities and experts from several Latin A…
(3 February 2011) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, met senior officials from the European Union (EU) this week in Brussels to exchange views on how to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the two regions.
During her three-day visit to the Belgian capital, home to the main EU institutions, Bárcena met with the Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Pierre Vimont, highlighting the importance of renewing and strengthening the strategic relationship that began in 1999 with the first …
(29 November 2010) Today, the most senior officials from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Organization of American States (OAS) and Tecnológico de Monterrey signed a cooperation agreement to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) among the region's companies.
Alicia Bárcena, José Miguel Insulza and Arturo Molina committed to developing joint activities in the corporate social responsibility area of the 2011 "Green Business Expo", to be held in Mexico from 4 to 6 April, so as to provide companies with a better understanding of relevant environmenta…
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(16 September 2011) Today, various agencies of the United Nations system headquartered in Santiago welcomed representatives of the National Coordinating Committee of Chilean Secondary School Students (CONES) for a dialogue.
The students, who were from different regions in the country, made thematic presentations and they shared their national demands with the international officials.
The young people were given advice on some international instruments and mandates which include matters relating to education, work, development and rights by representatives fr…
(29 September 2011) On Monday 3 October, the President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, will give a magisterial conference at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Santiago, during his official visit to Chile.
The activity, organized by ECLAC and the Embassy of Panama in Chile, will be inaugurated at 3.30 p.m. by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of this regional commission of the United Nations.
The conference is entitled "Panama as a model of economic growth in the Latin American region and the challenge of decreasing poverty".
Martinelli was bor…
(25 July 2011) Government authorities from several Latin American and Caribbean countries and senior officials from regional and international agencies met today in ECLAC to discuss the new role of the State in the region's development.
The International Seminar on State and Development was held in honour of Enrique V. Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB) and former Executive Secretary of ECLAC, for his renowned contribution to Latin American thinking on development and the role of the State.
Participants at the meeting agreed on the need to rethink the role of…
(1 June 2011) As part of his official visit to Chile, the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, will deliver a lecture on Chinese-Latin American relations at the ECLAC headquarters in Santiago.
The lecture will be held on Friday 10 June at 10.30 a.m. and will be attended by representatives from the government, academia, international agencies and members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Chile.
Xi Jinping will be received by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, who will welcome him on behalf of ECLAC and…
(15 November 2010) Government officials and representatives of international agencies and civil society will gather from 21-23 November in Lima, Peru for the Third Ministerial Conference on the Information Society of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In this forum, ECLAC member countries will approve a new regional plan of action called eLAC2015, which conceives information and communications technologies (ICTs) as tools for development with more innovation and equality.
The conference will be inaugurated on Monday, 22 November at 9 a.m. by the President of Peru, Alan García Pérez, the Executiv…
(17 October 2011) Today, the first School for broadband policymakers in the region, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) with the support of World Bank, was inaugurated at the headquarters of the Organization in Santiago, Chile, and government officials from seven Latin American countries are taking part.
"We hope that this school will help the processes of regional integration and the formation of a regional and independent broadband market, which effectively contributes to expanding information and communication technologies (ICTs) and has positiv…
The production of official statistics calls for responsibility and commitment on the part of the competent agencies. Thus, credible statistics and reliable national statistical institutes and other members of the national statistical system are vital assets since they are essential to the design, formulation, monitoring and assessment of Government plans and programmes.This credibility is a value that gains strength over time thanks to the generation of quality statistics that comply with standards, principles and norms relating to the production process and statistical activity as…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean is convening a combined Regional Expert Group Meeting on “Knowledge Management in the Public Sector”; and “Knowledge Strategies for Development: Knowledge Networks”, which will be held at its Port of Spain Office from Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 August 2011.
The findings of a report recently prepared by the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean on the topic of Knowledge Management on the Public Sector will be presented at the meeting, and will serve as the basis for the delib…