From May 7 to 11, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will hold in Havana, Cuba, its thirty-seventh session, the United Nations regional commission’s most important biennial meeting, which will be attended by more than 25 ministers, deputy ministers and other senior authorities from more than 20 countries of the region.

The event, which will take place at the Palacio de Convenciones in Havana, will bring together representatives of ECLAC’s 46 member countries and 13 associate members. It will be inaugurated on Tuesday, May 8 at 9 a.m. local time, by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary; Francisco Guzmán Ortiz, Chief of Office of Mexico’s Presidency; and a high-ranking representative of the government of Cuba (to be confirmed).

At the meeting, participants will analyze issues relevant to the development of the region’s countries and will examine the progress made on the Commission’s activities. On this occasion, ECLAC will present its report on activities regarding the work done in the last two years and attendees will define, via the approval of a program of work and a calendar of conferences, the mandates that will guide its work during the next biennium (2019-2020).

Along with presenting its report on activities – including those carried out by its nine subsidiary bodies – as well as its program of work, over the five days of the meeting sessions will include a commemorative seminar in recognition of the organization’s 70th anniversary (which is being celebrated in 2018), another high-level seminar about the inefficiency of inequality, and a dialogue between foreign affairs ministers and other senior authorities.

In addition, ECLAC will offer governments its reflections regarding the urgency of addressing the problems caused by growing inequality in the region and how this can affect compliance with the commitments of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as contained in the position document The Inefficiency of Inequality, which will be released at the meeting.

The event will also draw researchers and scholars, officials from nearly 30 bodies that are intergovernmental, specialized or form part of the United Nations System, and various representatives of civil society organizations.

The full programme of ECLAC’s thirty-seventh session, as well as general information on the meeting and registration information for participants and journalists, is available on the gathering’s special website: https://periododesesiones.cepal.org/37/en.

You can follow all the details of the meeting on the live broadcast and on ECLAC’s social media with the hashtags #igualdadALC and #equalityLAC.

Please remind that foreign journalists who want to travel to Cuba to cover this event must comply with the immigration requirements for entry into the country. More information is available at this link.

What: ECLAC’s Thirty-seventh session.

When: Monday, May 7 to Friday, May 11, 2018.

Who:

Inauguration (Tuesday, May 8, 9 a.m.) at the Palacio de Convenciones in Havana:

António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General.

Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary.

Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Authority from the Cuban government (to be confirmed).

Where: Palacio de Convenciones de La Habana, Calle 146, between 11 and 13, Havana 16046, Cuba.

For queries related to press coverage of this event, contact in Santiago, Chile, the ECLAC’s Public Information Unit. Email: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56) 22210 2040.