ECLAC: Why it’s urgent to change the economic and multilateral paradigm?
Reducing poverty, inequality and hunger were a fundamental part of the work carried out by Cuba while it was in charge of the Pro-Tempore presidency of ECLAC
The negative effects of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus in Latin America and the Caribbean are beginning to reflect its catastrophic depth in the region, especially with generalized health and sanitary crises amid the total lack of control of infections and deaths, figures that already exceed the rest of the continents and they still show no signs of starting to slow down.
Given this, most of the countries in the region have raised their alarms and have begun to consider that it is urgent and necessary to start taking measures that encourage a change of paradigm, at least in principle, in terms of international financing and strengthening of multilateralism.
The decision to change becomes urgent, especially because the peoples of Latin America are increasingly suffering the effects of the pandemic caused by COVID-19.
For this reason, at the most recent virtual meeting of the XXXVII period of sessions of the Committee of the Whole of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the need to obtain international financing that allows an immediate response to the effects of the pandemic and achieve sustainable development in the region was proposed.
The meeting, in which 37 member countries of ECLAC and 6 associate members participated, was opened by Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba; and by Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of ECLAC; who reviewed the economic and social panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean and reported on the Commission’s priorities to face the most pressing challenges in the region, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Latin America and the Caribbean must confront hunger and poverty
During his speech, Minister Malmierca gave an account of the activities led by Cuba in the last two years under the Presidency of ECLAC, which he handed over to Costa Rica, and highlighted his country’s commitment to renewed multilateralism and the defense of the principles of international law enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Reducing poverty, inequality and hunger were a fundamental part of the work carried out by Cuba while it was in charge of the Pro-Tempore presidency of ECLAC.
“The essential value of our presidency was to promote, through a frank and open dialogue, the objectives of ending poverty and achieving zero hunger, where each person has access to universal health services and each child has access to an education system that contributes to closing the deep existing gaps that root inequality and foster a culture of privilege”, highlighted Malmierca.
For her part, Bárcena stressed that to alleviate the most fundamental needs of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples, the cooperation and role of international financial institutions for regional recovery is of utmost importance once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
In that sense, she stressed that financing for development in the era of the pandemic and beyond will require collective action, something that has deteriorated with the arrival of servile governments in Washington.
“More needs to be done, both in scope and magnitude, to overcome this systemic crisis and ensure a recovery in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, said the Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
Bárcena also stressed that promoting equality is essential to control the pandemic and ensure a sustainable and green economic recovery.
Governments must avoid austerity measures
The executive secretary of ECLAC stressed that expansionary fiscal policies will be needed to better rebuild, avoiding austerity measures and maintaining fiscal stimulus.
In addition, she said, more progressive and efficient tax systems are also required to eliminate evasion and new fiscal and social pacts in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The highest representative of ECLAC stressed that regional cooperation is more urgent than ever and highlighted the need to provide public goods to societies.
“We are facing a civilizational crossroads that requires us to renew our institutions. We have to create a global social pact, it will be necessary to review our development model, not lose link with the 2030 Agenda and build more resilient societies”, she said.
Likewise, the senior United Nations official highlighted Cuba’s role in the Presidency of ECLAC and welcomed Costa Rica, a country that will organize the XXXVIII session of ECLAC, which will take place virtually from 26 to 28 October 2020.
“It will be a historic meeting in which we hope to endorse the importance of multilateralism, of cooperation and mutual understanding to overcome together this tragedy that strikes us relentlessly and to once again highlight the urgency of a sustainable transformation, with equality at the center, for a better future in which life is really worth living for millions of our compatriots”, Bárcena said.
Cooperation and multilateralism to rescue the region
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, Rodolfo Solano, in his capacity as the new Pro-Tempore President of ECLAC, stressed that, given the magnitude of the effects of the pandemic in the region, the only way is multilateral cooperation .
“Only by working together can we guarantee better results without leaving anyone behind”, Solano stressed when taking command of ECLAC for the next two years.
Solano added that international cooperation and multilateral organizations must design new technical and financial instruments to support developing countries that face fiscal pressure.
In this sense, he highlighted the strategy of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, who — together with the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and Canada — is inviting to expand financing instruments and look at the sustainability of the debt of Caribbean countries that do not have good financial backing to go to the markets.
“This is a valuable opportunity that we must not miss, to work on necessary transformational changes, advance our development agendas and adequately face the effects of the crisis”, he said.
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