The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) expressed its solidarity with the people of Haiti after the earthquake yesterday and called for urgent international cooperation in humanitarian aid and the subsequent reconstruction of the country, which has suffered harsh natural disasters in recent years.
Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Dorothee Fiedler, Deputy Director General for Latin America of Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), agreed on a cooperation programme involving an additional ? 3.5 million to carry out a new programme, "Promoting sustainable development and social cohesion in Latin America and the Caribbean: Investing in regional public goods". This programme is set to begin in 2010 as an extension of the programme currently underway
Experts of the region met on 17-18 June at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile to discuss the challenges posed by the world financial and economic crisis for Latin American and Caribbean countries in social management and social expenditure.
A new website for the Spanish International cooperation programme with ECLAC was launched. The site is available at http://www.eclac.org/aecid (Spanish only)
Trade Agreements and Sustainable Development For Inclusive Societies
The role of trade agreements in advancing towards a more inclusive society and the effects of climate change will be two of the main topics of the Twelfth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis to be held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile from June 10-12. This year's conference,Trade Integration and Sustainable Development: Looking for an Inclusive World, is organized jointly by ECLAC, the IDB and the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) of the Center for Global Trade Analysis. The meeting is sponsored by the Central Bank of Chile and the Government of Spain.
Regional seminar: Rethinking social issues in times of crisis
The decrease in tax revenues and fiscal income as a result of the economic crisis is affecting the financing of social protection, making it urgent to ensure social spending to implement measures in favor of the most vulnerable. This was one of the main conclusions of the regional seminar Rethinking social issues in times of crisis, held recently in Antigua, Guatemala. The event was organized by ECLAC's Social Develoment Division and the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI), and was sponsored by Sweden's international development agency ASDI, with the collaboration of Spain's international cooperation agency for development AECID.
Latin America and the Caribbean should participate in the reconstruction of the international financial architecture with a regional perspective, said prominent French political scientist Alain Rouquié during a conference at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile. During his presentation, "Latin America after the crisis", the former diplomat posed questions about how the financial crisis will affect regional integration, upcoming electoral processes and the position of the region within the new geography of world power.
Costs of child undernutrition in Bolivia reaches US$ 552 million
The cost of child undernutrition in Bolivia reached some US$ 552 million in 2005, equivalent to 5.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 31.8% of total social expenditure in the country, according to the study "The cost of hunger in Bolivia: The social and economic impact of child undernutrition". The study was conducted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), ECLAC, Bolivia's Unit for the Analysis of Social and Economic Policies (UDAPE) and the Bolivian Health and Sports Ministry to analyze the costs of child undernutrition and its future prospects.
