The period covered by this report was marked by a certain turbulence in economic performance in Latin America and the Caribbean. This context, in turn, was reflected in the activities of ECLAC, headed by Mr. Gert Rosenthal, which tries to respond to both long-term and emerging development issues in the region.
In the past year, the ECLAC secretariat, which includes the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) and the Latin American Demographic Centre (CELADE), focused on a number of development issues concerned with medium-term growth (macroeconomic management, innovation, enhancing savings and channelling them to productive investment) and intraregional economic cooperation. In addition, the secretariat was involved in numerous regional preparatory activities for global events, particularly the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women.
At the time of writing the present report, ECLAC was undertaking a major mid-decade evaluation of the strategies of adjustment, stabilization and structural reforms pursued by the region. The exercise is expected to be particularly timely in the face of recent events affecting some Latin American economies. The document is planned to be reviewed by the member Governments during the forthcoming session of the Commission to be held at San José, Costa Rica, in April 1996.
ECLAC continued to be a meeting place for officials. In addition to some 35 seminars held during the past 13 months, the secretariat prepared and held the sixth session of the Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, held at Mar del Plata, Argentina, from 25 to 29 September 1994. The secretariat played a similar role in the twenty-first meeting of Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, held at Santiago, Chile, on 3 and 4 July 1995. Support was provided to the third Regional Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities of the Housing and Urban Development Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, held at Quito, Ecuador, from 16 to 18 November 1994.
ECLAC has been actively involved in the follow-up activities to Agenda 21, most notably in those dealing with environmentally sustainable management of natural resources and various sectors of activity, and the development of statistics and environmental accounts. The extensive list of publications and research works include a study on water resources management in Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of programme 21, and a study entitled "Hazardous products and wastes: impact of transboundary movements towards the Latin American and Caribbean region and possibilities for preventing and controlling it". The Commission made relevant contributions to the preparatory work of the World Summit for Social Development through the formulation of poverty reduction strategies within the context of its major statement on changing production patterns with social equity. Among the publications most recently issued are: Proposals for a modern social policy to foster social development and Educational inequalities: problems and policies. Work is ongoing on a project that explores the relationships between this statement and the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights in the region.
ECLAC has also continued to perform its established role of monitoring the economic and social performance of the region. To the Commission's list of traditional annual publications that fulfil this function -- the Preliminary Overview of the Economy of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean and the Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean -- the Social Panorama of Latin America has now been added in keeping with the increased level of recognition that the matter is gaining in the region. Work continued on the setting up of the Short-term Indicators Database, the incorporation of new international statistical classifications and the development of a data bank on the external debt of Latin American countries. In addition, assistance was provided to Latin American countries in implementing the new System of National Accounts.
The Executive Secretary participated in the Meeting of Heads of State of the Río Group (September 1994), the Hemispheric Summit of Heads of State (December 1994) and the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government (July 1995).
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