Southsouth-Galaxy

ECLAC: Extraordinary Meeting of the Committee on South-South Cooperation, 19-20 Aug 2021

August 10, 2021

The extraordinary meeting of the Committee on South-South Cooperation: Opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Committee on South-South Cooperation is one of the subsidiary bodies of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Its main aim is to strengthen international cooperation for development in the region, including South-South, North-South and multilateral cooperation.

An extraordinary meeting of the Committee on South-South Cooperation: opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean will be held virtually on August 19 and 20, 2021. The meeting is being held in pursuant to resolution 749(XXXVIII), adopted at the thirty-eighth session of ECLAC, by which the countries requested the Chair of the Presiding Officers of the Committee on South-South Cooperation to convene, with the support of the secretariat, an extraordinary meeting of the Committee,  outside the framework of the session of the Commission, in order to examine ways to enhance its functioning, including the need for institutional changes, with a view to providing recommendations to the Commission on these deliberations.

The Presiding Officers elected at the thirty-eighth session of ECLAC, held in October 2020, are representatives of the following countries: Costa Rica (Chair), Argentina, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, and Peru (Vice-Chairs).

Provisional agenda

  1. Adoption of the agenda.
  2. Presentation of the note by the secretariat entitled “From the Committee on South-South Cooperation to the regional conference: opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean”: Under this agenda item, the secretariat will present a note containing a synopsis of the background and mandate of the Committee on South-South Cooperation and explaining the proposed change in the Committee’s methods of work to reflect the central importance of development cooperation for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Institutional and substantive support for development cooperation at the highest level is needed to strengthen the role of development in achieving the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda and to implement the commitments in the Buenos Aires outcome document of the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation regionally.
  3. Multidimensional measurements of development: opportunities for renewed cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Under this agenda item, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC will give a presentation on the ways in which the economic and social effects of COVID-19 have widened structural gaps such as inequality, informality, low productivity and fragmented access to external financing. Until now, the multilateral response has not fully addressed the needs of developing countries to face the worsening of the crisis. Like many countries within and outside the region, the Commission has underscored the importance of addressing countries’ development needs beyond classification and graduation criteria based on income, to capture both their vulnerabilities and the multidimensional nature of sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A panel of authorities has been invited to comment on the presentation, after which the floor will be offered to representatives. The discussion is expected to help rethink development cooperation with regard to, for example, the provision of better and more effective instruments to determine and guide international cooperation.
  4. The outcome of the twentieth session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation of the United Nations (1–4 June 2021): Under this item, the Chair of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation and the Chair of the Committee on South-South Cooperation of ECLAC will be invited to report on the main outcomes of the twentieth session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation, held in June 2021. A representative from the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) will also give a presentation on the system-wide strategy on South-South cooperation and the challenges in its implementation. Lastly, the floor will be given to a representative of an extra-regional partner.
  5. Dialogue of ministers of foreign affairs on opportunities and challenges of international development cooperation in the context of the health, economic and social recovery post- COVID-19: This dialogue, which will be moderated by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, will include a group of ministers of foreign affairs who have been invited to discuss the challenges and opportunities of international development cooperation facing the countries of the region, especially small island developing States and middle-income countries, both in the current context of COVID-19 and in the post-pandemic future. Another aim is to identify key areas or instruments for cooperation that are inclusive and sustainable, that have the potential to reduce structural gaps and asymmetries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Finally, participants are expected to discuss the importance of the region communicating with one voice in the global arena to renew and improve international cooperation on issues such as access to vaccines and multilateral financing and debt relief measures. The ministers will have between five and seven minutes to make their statements. 6. Adoption of agreements The Committee on South-South Cooperation will adopt the agreements they deem appropriate in accordance with the rules of procedure of ECLAC.

Click here to download the agenda and visit the ECLAC website for more background documents.