SANTIAGO, Chile – The executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Tuesday said the creation of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in 2021, marked a decisive step towards more integrated and effective cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary (center), addressing the conference.“This space has strengthened ties between countries from the Global South and has opened new doors to triangular cooperation with extra-regional actors, donors and international organizations,” Salazar-Xirinachs the two-day conference analyzing the challenges of international cooperation in shaping the new regional and global context.
The two-day second session of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has brought together representatives of the region’s countries, the United Nations system as well as regional and international organizations.
The opening ceremony was told that international cooperation is a tool for solidarity, but it is also a structural necessity for building a more productive, inclusive, sustainable, just and resilient future in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In his address, Salazar-Xirinachs said that the conference is taking place in a global context marked by multiple crises, significant geopolitical changes and competition between major economies and powers.
“This is a context that I would even describe as a crisis in international cooperation, where certain countries and views are questioning multilateralism, the United Nations system, and international cooperation.
“That is why we must rethink the role of South-South and triangular cooperation as a critical mechanism for strengthening capacities, mobilizing resources and promoting solutions tailored to regional and national realities,” he said.
Salazar-Xirinachs said that international cooperation is essential for ensuring security, stability and collective well-being in a deeply interconnected world, and he added that at times of crisis, it is not just an ethical option but rather a strategic necessity for surviving and prospering together.
He said that the current scenario requires courage, creativity, pragmatism, conviction and commitment, along with a long-term vision.
“Global economic and geopolitical conditions could not be more complex, and while there are opportunities, this is an unfriendly time for growth and development efforts. My hope is that this Conference can be a game changer: a platform for renewing commitments, building bridges, activating concrete solutions and accelerating fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“The future is not set in stone: it is in our hands, and it starts with what we decide to do together, today, here and now,” he told the delegates.
The Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), Dima Al-Khatib, who addressed the conference virtually, noted that Latin America and the Caribbean has played a unique and very special role in the history and evolution of cooperation for development.
“It was in this region that UN member states first convened to shape a development cooperation that would transform traditional paradigms, heavier in development assistance and aid, rather than cooperation,” she stated.
Director General of International Cooperation at the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Mateo Estremé, said that measuring cooperation among developing countries is key to strengthening their global leadership, improving their effectiveness and moving together towards sustainable development.
He also underlined the relevance of incorporating multi-stakeholder cooperation modalities: “In a context of reduced official resources for international cooperation, it is vital that we design strategies that would allow us to incorporate the participation of the private sector, academia and other actors, and to integrate these sectors in the design and implementation of cooperation activities.”
On the first day of this meeting, delegates elected Chile to serve as Chair of the Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation for the next two years.
The Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean was established by virtue of resolution 752 and approved by member countries at the 36th session of ECLAC’s Committee of the Whole in December 2021.
Some of the objectives of this subsidiary body of ECLAC are to examine the experiences of South-South and triangular cooperation in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and make progress in evaluating them, in conjunction with the relevant subsidiary bodies that conduct studies in this field.
