(January 30, 2015) Costa Rica’s Government and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) agreed today to strengthen mutual cooperation to boost the Central American country’s development, during a bilateral meeting held in San José by the President of the Republic, Luis Guillermo Solís, and the Executive Secretary of the regional United Nations organization, Alicia Bárcena.
The officials shared their visions on the development of the country and of Latin America and the Caribbean in general while also discussing the recent Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which was held this week in Costa Rica.
Alicia Bárcena congratulated President Solís for the success of the recently concluded summit and for leaving, at the end of his period as president pro tempore of CELAC, one of the most important legacies in the group’s history: Latin America and the Caribbean approaching China as a single region.
President Solís thanked ECLAC for its support—which will be the responsibility of the Commission’s Subregional Headquarters in Mexico—and called for boosting economic and social processes to reduce territorial inequalities in Costa Rica.
The Head of State also emphasized his commitment to confronting the scourge of extreme poverty, which affects around 89,000 families in the country, and underscored the importance of strengthening Costa Rica’s taxation system and putting debt on a sustainable path.
The meeting was also attended by Costa Rican First Lady Mercedes Peñas; the Vice Presidents Helio Fallas and Ana Helena Chacón; Foreign Affairs Minister, Manuel González; Deputy Chancellor, Alejandro Solano, and the National Planning and Economic Policy Minister, Olga Marta Sánchez Oviedo.
During the meeting, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary and the Foreign Affairs Minister signed a letter of understanding—with President Solís as a witness—which primarily aims to strengthen the Costa Rican government’s institutional and analytical capabilities in order to propose changes, reinforce programs or institutions, and formulate public policy proposals for the country’s development.
In particular, both parties committed themselves to carrying out cooperation actions in different areas of institutional strengthening and public policies, including strategies for the implementation, follow-up and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda; planning capabilities; structural analysis of the national economy; sustainability, public finances and macroeconomic prospects.
Other areas of cooperation addressed in the agreement include sustainable and low-carbon development and adaptation to climate change; food security and comprehensive risk management in the agricultural sector; value chains and business globalization strategies; integration policies in SICA, the Pacific Alliance and participation in the OECD; a system for monitoring, coordinating and evaluating social programs; and public policy on young people’s rights and updates to the institutional and legal frameworks of social policy.
In addition, ECLAC and the Costa Rican Government will collaborate on the design and implementation of strategies to boost economic and social development and fight poverty and inequality, in the context of the nation’s development plan; on advancing towards democratic governance and citizen participation and an open and transparent government; and on energy sector matters.
During the meeting, Costa Rica’s President and the Planning and Development Minister presented ECLAC’s Executive Secretary with the Central American country’s National Development Plan 2015-2018, so it could be incorporated into the Planning Repository that the regional United Nations organization launched recently through its Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES).
The Planning Repository seeks to bring all the region’s development plans together in one place, facilitating comparisons between countries as well as the exchange of experiences and the sharing of good practices.
During the meeting with President Solís, Alicia Bárcena was accompanied by the Director of ECLAC’s Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, Hugo Beteta, and the organization’s Political Affairs Officer, Enrique Oviedo.
