(11 April 2013) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Luis Almagro, signed an agreement in Montevideo to establish the country as the host of the first meeting of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held from 12 to 15 August 2013, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The agreement specifies the commitments undertaken by both parties to ensure the successful organization of this international event. The main topic will be the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014, and the outcome will be used as input for the 47th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development and the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly.
At the last meeting of the ECLAC Ad Hoc Committee on Population and Development, held in Quito, Ecuador, from 4 to 6 July 2012, the region's countries decided to rename the Committee as the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. This decision was subsequently ratified by Resolution N° 670(XXXIV) of the thirty-fourth session of ECLAC, held in San Salvador, El Salvador, from 27 to 31 August 2012.
The Regional Conference, which will meet every two years, will take on all of the roles of the Ad Hoc Committee and will follow up its mandates. This makes it a highly relevant intergovernmental forum on population and development for the region, and this will increase the visibility of its decisions in the framework of the ECLAC session (the main meeting of this UN regional commission) and of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
More information, including the agenda for the meeting, is available on the ECLAC website.
Any queries should be sent to the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section.
E-mail: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 2210 2040.
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