CDCC Meeting. Thirtieth Session of ECLAC

Statement to the CDCC Meeting on 28 June 2004
José Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary ECLAC

XXX ECLAC SESSION

Mr. Chairman, Honourable Ministers, Representatives of CDCC Countries, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am very pleased to join with you today as you commence your informal deliberations on matters pertaining to the development of the countries of our region, including, of course, the countries of the Caribbean Subregion, in the context of the 30th Session of ECLAC. The convening of the thirtieth session of the Commission, which is what has brought us all to Puerto Rico for this entire week, is, naturally, an event to which I attach the greatest importance.

Having assumed the duties of Executive Secretary only six months ago, this is also my first opportunity to meet with representatives of the member countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee, a very important intergovernmental body of ECLAC, whose membership comprises a significant portion of the Commission’s membership. It is for this reason that I have seized the opportunity to spend some time with you today to share a few of my ideas regarding the future direction of ECLAC. I did regret not being able to join you in St. Croix at the twentieth session of the CDCC in April 2004. Nevertheless, I was able to meet with many Caribbean Ambassadors in New York, at the Session of the  ECLAC Committee of the Whole, held that same month at UN Headquarters. On that occasion I mentioned 5 priority areas of ECLAC future action, all of which are very relevant to the Caribbean Subregion.

These are:
1.Fostering hemispheric integration;
2.Increasing the region’s productive potential;
3.Assessing international migration;
4.Improving social cohesion; and
5.Promoting sustainable development.

In line with these priorities, it is my belief that the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters can make a significant contribution to Caribbean development, at least in the following four areas:

1) Promotion of productive development by introducing a knowledge-intensive pattern of external economic integration with higher local value added. In this line, productive development policies should focus on the incorporation of knowledge or innovation defined as the capacity to adopt, adapt and create knowledge. ECLAC has developed and is actively seeking financing for a project to promote this goal in the Caribbean through the implementation of the Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society.

2) International migration is not a new phenomenon in the Caribbean and in fact has increased in importance in recent decades. Of particular significance are remittances from emigrants, which, at the regional level, exceeded the level of Foreign Direct Investment, and the brain-drain, which has a very negative impact on such critical sectors as education and health services in the region. The Subregional Headquarters will focus on these important issues in the coming months in close collaboration with CELADE.

3) The effective incorporation of the environmental dimension into the development agenda in the Caribbean is recognized to have important implications for the formulation and implementation of economic and social policies. Providing the basic guidelines of this approach are the provisions of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Program of Action, adopted in Barbados in 1994, and related international decisions such as those adopted at the 22ndSpecial Session of the General Assembly (1999), the MDGs (2000) and the Johannesburg Summit.
ECLAC has a general mandate to coordinate the mandates of UN Global Conferences, and will continue to support the implementation of the SIDS POA together with CARICOM and other relevant agencies.
The upcoming 10 year SIDS review Conference in Mauritius, in January 2005, provides the region with another opportunity to promote its priority interests and concerns for the next phase of implementation of the SIDS Program of Action.

4) With respect to the social dimension of development, among the major elements is the need to improve social cohesion. To this end, ECLAC has embarked on the focused examination of the issues to be addressed in overcoming social vulnerability. These have shown that women, youth and the elderly as well as indigenous populations constitute the most vulnerable groups. The major outcome of this work to date has been  the development of a social development index, which was presented to member Governments and other stakeholders last With respect to the social dimension of development, among the

major elements is the need to improve social cohesion. To this end, ECLAC has embarked on the focused examination of the issues to be addressed in overcoming social vulnerability. These have shown that women, youth and the elderly as well as indigenous populations constitute the most vulnerable groups. The major outcome of this work to date has been the development of a social development index, which was presented to member Governments and other stakeholders last week. In this framework, a major concern is to design policies to prevent HIV/AIDS.

Over the years, at the regional, hemispheric and wider international levels, the Caribbean subregion has played a significant, even aggressive, role in pursuit of its development aspirations. This is a role that ECLAC, under my stewardship, pledges, not only to encourage, but also to actively support, with a view to enabling the countries of the subregion, for the most part, small island developing States, with open economies and subject to the range of vulnerabilities characteristic of this category of States, to build resilience to confront the many and complex challenges which are presented by the similarly complex international environment. Such support would be forthcoming whether in relation to the proposal for the creation of an FTAA, in the context of negotiations within the WTO, or in any other forum which the countries of the Subregion identifies as being relevant to the pursuit of its key interests. Let me also say that, in the ECLAC/CDCC, we are very well served withan organ that is unique within the United Nations system that provides a vehicle by means of which the concerns of the countries represented here can be articulated and promoted across the global system, including the United Nations system.

This observation brings me to a very important point, which relates to the need perceived by the membership of the CDCC, the countries gathered in this room, to renew the Committee which was established some three decades ago, in 1975, in order to explicitly align its structures and its activities with the realities of the contemporary international system that constitutes the operational environment for the promotion of our developmental concerns under the framework of the MDGs. It is truly to your credit that this important initiative has been brought to the stage where draft revised texts of the Committee’s basic documents (the Constituent Declaration and Functions and Rules of Procedure) are now before the Commission, setting forth, inter alia, and in specific terms, a political commitment to the Committee; a clearly defined image and purpose for the Committee; a scope for the development and execution of activities that are focused on the issues that impede our development effort; and the capacities which the Committee must acquire to be able to provide the type of assistance that is needed if our countries are to effectively tackle the issues that constitute our sustainable development paradigm.

The review of CDCC features prominently on the agenda of our session and we hope that the changes will be adopted by consensus by the Commission later this week.

In closing, I wish to mention my concern about the staffing situation of the Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean at Port of Spain, which serves as the secretariat of the CDCC. Since assuming office, I have worked hard to fill the many existing vacancies resulting from resignation and retirement of valuable staff members. I am pleased that a new Deputy Director, Mr. Rudolf Buitelaar, who is an experienced ECLAC staff member, has recently assumed his duties and it is my hope that a new Director will shortly be designated. Many excellent candidates are being evaluated, including a number from the Caribbean Subregion and our task is now to complete the process as quickly as possible.

Rest assured that ECLAC will strengthen its efforts to further advance on the theme of productive development in open economies in the Caribbean, as requested by several governments this afternoon.

I look forward to working closely with you and your Governments in coming months. Thank you again for your support.

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