(27 August 2012) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, and the Foreign Affairs Minister of El Salvador, Hugo Martínez, gave a press conference on Monday 27 August in San Salvador, El Salvador, to present the agenda of the thirty-fourth session, which was being held in the Central American country for the first time.
The press conference was held in the Convention Centre of the Hotel Crowne Plaza San Salvador -which is the venue for the session - and was broadcast online (as will be the case for the rest of the meeting).
Minister Martínez welcomed participants and thanked ECLAC for its work in supporting the region's countries, and particularly El Salvador, which will take over the presidency of the Commission for the next two years.
He stated "ECLAC has supported us through good times and bad. It has been our travelling companion for many years, and now it is giving us the chance to be at the heart of the discussions that will take place at this meeting".
Alicia Bárcena also thanked the Government and the Salvadoran people for their hospitality, and outlined the main topics of the meeting that brings together over 40 of the region's countries and that will be attended by senior authorities (including 18 ministers).
She said "We came to deliver a proposal and a challenge to follow up what we presented in Brazil in 2010. Our proposal is equality; the path is structural change".
Ms. Bárcena added "We are presenting an integrated proposal for development. Not all social matters are about social policy. We think there is a need for a structural change in the production structures, with policies that promote quality employment with social protection. We must tackle inequality, which remains an issue for the region".
Minister Martínez also echoed the document's call: "El Salvador has the opportunity to make a contribution to this topic and follow up the conclusions of this study (...) As a country, we subscribe to the central thesis of the document, whereby it is important for States to play a larger role in policies to promote development, growth, income distribution and the generation of opportunities. This approach coincides with what we have been doing in El Salvador in recent years, through a government with a social focus".
The thirty-fourth ECLAC session, the most important biennial meeting of this United Nations Commission, will be officially opened on Tuesday 28 August by Ms. Bárcena and President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, and will last until Friday 31 August.
The meeting will be attended by delegates from ECLAC Member States and associate members, as well as academics and civil society representatives. In addition to examining the work carried out by ECLAC over the past two years and defining the programme of work for the next two, countries will also have the change to discuss the region's economic, social and environmental development.
In this context, ECLAC will present the document Structural change for equality: An integrated approach to development, which proposes a concrete change for long-term growth with equality and environmental sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
See a video of the press conference by clicking on this link.
From Tuesday 28 August, to watch the live broadcast of the thirty-fourth ECLAC session, click on the following link.
Press Contacts:
ECLAC:
María Amparo Lasso, Head of the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section.
E-mail: prensa@cepal.org or mariaamparo.lasso@cepal.org. Office telephone: (56 2) 2102040; mobile: (56 9) 79678306.
Daniela Estrada. E-mail: daniela.estrada@cepal.org. Mobile: (56 9) 81993349.
María Luisa Díaz. E-mail: marialuisa.diaz@cepal.org. Mobile: (56 9) 66079429.
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, El Salvador:
Edith Portillo. E-mail: elportillo@rree.gob.sv. Mobile: (503) 70701230.
Marielos Meléndez. E-mail: mamelendez@rree.gob.sv. Mobile: (503) 70701299
.