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UNITED NATIONS - ECLAC |
Questions & Answers
WHAT IS ECLAC? ECLAC, the accronym for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, is one of the five regional economic commissions of the United Nations. Its headquarters are in Santiago, Chile, in the United Nations Building, which was inaugurated in August 1966 by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant. The other four regional economic commissions are: the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE, Geneva); the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA, Addis Ababa); the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP, Bangkok); and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA, Beirut). The regional economic commissions are agencies of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, to which they report periodically on the economic and social development activities in their respective regions. WHEN WAS IT ESTABLISHED AND HOW IS IT DIRECTED? ECLAC was established in February 1948 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a regional agency to cooperate with the governments of Latin America in the economic and social development of the region; the scope of its activities was subsequently expanded to include the countries of the Caribbean. In February 1998, ECLAC celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. The Secretariat of ECLAC is headed by an Executive Secretary, a post held by the Colombian economist José Antonio Ocampo since January 1, 1998. Since the establishment of ECLAC, the position of Executive Secretary has been held by: Gustavo Martínez Cabañas (Mexico), 1949-1950; Raúl Prebisch (Argentina), 1950-1963; José Antonio Mayobre (Venezuela), 1963-1966; Carlos Quintana (Mexico), 1967-1972; Enrique V. Iglesias (Uruguay), 1972-1985; Norberto González (Argentina), 1985-1987; and Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala), 1988-1997. ECLAC: A RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL NEEDS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ECLAC's first programme of work was adopted by its Member States in 1948 during the inaugural metting of the Commission. Since then the Commission's scope of action has been broadened and it has assumed new and more complex responsibilities which reflect the needs of the countries of the region. The principles on which it was founded, however, have remained unaltered throughout the fifty years of its existence. Moreover, its objectives still include the acceleration of growth with equity which, in order to be truly effective, requires dynamic development programmes, plans and policies based on the realities of each country. Most of the problems the countries of Latin America face reflect the affinities which their governments have emphasized in their efforts to integrate the peoples of the region, linked as they are by centuries of common history and culture. The same is true of the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. THE ECLAC SYSTEM IN THE REGION The Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) and the Latin American Demographic Center (CELADE) are part of the ECLAC system. Both are headquartered in Santiago, Chile. ILPES was founded in June 1962, its first Director-General was the Argentine economist, Raúl Prebisch. The current Acting Director-General of ILPES is Arturo Núñez del Prado, a national of Bolivia. Established in Santiago, Chile in August 1957, under an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Chile, CELADE became a major part of the ECLAC system in March 1975. Since 1987, the Argentine Reynaldo Bajraj has been director of CELADE. Carmen A. Miro (Panama) was its first director. The sub-regional offices of the ECLAC system are located in Mexico City (Mexico) and Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago). ECLAC also maintains country offices in Bogota, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Washington, D.C. ECLAC carries out studies and programs in collaboration with the governments of the region in such fields as integration, foreign trade, agricultural production, industrial development, transport and communications, statistics, natural resources, the environment, science and technology, and transnational corporations. These programs are undertaken at the request of interested governments in close cooperation with other international agencies, and are supplemented by other development activities, such as population censuses, the development of children and youth, the situation of women, human settlements, urbanization, and information systems, among others. ECLAC: AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL FORUM During the years following the Second World War, two great concerns emerged in Latin America. The first was that of a group of persons who clearly saw the need to start identifying problems that were common to the region in order to initiate the task of cooperation, both at the regional level and with the rest of the world. The second was an intellectual concern: thinking of Latin America in terms of its own categories which, without ignoring the contributions from other regions, would permit the elaboration of development policies suited to the continent's real needs. ECLAC, as an intergovernmental organization, has thus developed into a true forum that promotes discussion and elaboration of proposals aimed at the economic and social development of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. THE MEMBER COUNTRIES OF ECLAC There are at present 41 Member States of ECLAC: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. There are also six associate members of the Economic Commission: the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, the Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and Anguilla. THE REGULAR SESSIONS OF ECLACBetween 1948 and 1997, ECLAC has held 26 sessions. These took place in Santiago (Chile), June 1948; Havana (Cuba), May-June 1949; Montevideo (Uruguay), June 1950; Mexico City (Mexico), May-June 1951; Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), April 1953; Bogota (Colombia), August-September 1955; La Paz (Bolivia), May 1957; Panama City (Panama), May 1959; Santiago (Chile), May 1961; Mar del Plata (Argentina), May 1963; Mexico City (Mexico), May 1965; Caracas (Venezuela), May 1967; Lima (Peru), April 1969; Santiago (Chile), April-May 1971; Quito (Ecuador), March 1973; Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), May 1975; Guatemala City (Guatemala), April-May 1977; La Paz (Bolivia), April 1979; Montevideo (Uruguay), May 1981; Lima (Peru), March-April 1984; Mexico City (Mexico), April 1986; Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), April 1988; Caracas (Venezuela), May 1990; Santiago (Chile), April 1992; Cartagena (Colombia), April 1994; and San Jose (Costa Rica), April 1996. In addition, a Special Conference of ECLAC took place in January 1987 in Mexico City. The twenty-seventh session of ECLAC was held in Aruba in April 1998. |
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