Development and Co-operation Programme - [11/07/2006]

National Pacts in Latin America to Fight Poverty

Economists and experts on Latin America advised a fiscal reform in the region to fight against inequality, taking advantage of the current economic boon, in a seminar organised by the CIDOB Foundation on October 6 and 7 in the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona.

Under the title, Economic Policies for a New Social Pact in Latin America, twenty-six of the most knowledgeable people on the economic and social situation of Latin America debated over the most appropriate economic policies for promoting equitable development in this region. This seminar constituted the second edition of the Latin American Development Agenda (ADI), an initiative carried out for the first time in Salamanca.

The seminar, inaugurated by the President of the CIDOB Foundation, Narcís Serra, enjoyed the presence of Luis Carranza, Peruvian Minister of Economics and Finances; José de Gregorio, Vice-President of the Central Bank of Chile; Rebeca Grynspan, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations; Enrique Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Cooperation Secretariat; José Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary of ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean); and Miguel Sebastián, Director of the Economic Office of the President of the Government, among other figures (consult programme). (pdf 40kB)

In his intervention, the Ibero-American Secretary-General, Enrique Iglesias, stressed the need to arrive at “social consensus in Latin America in order to reconcile processes of change in the region, like fiscal reform or the management of natural resources”.

Also highlighting the need for reform in the fiscal area was Miguel Sebastián (Director of the Economic Office of the President of the Government), who underscored the idea that “the decline in the price of raw materials in Latin America should be taken advantage of in order to save up for the future”.

Finally, José Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, advised “creating a certain social institutionalisation that would respect transparency, continuity in spending and the participation of civil society”.

In the concluding debate, Narcís Serra recognised that following this encounter there were “more issues open than closed” and that these questions “cannot be resolved in one year”.

Following this debate, Narcís Serra read some conclusions (pdf 26kB) that the speakers had previously reached consensus on, in which it was emphasised that “Latin America needs a fiscal reform that tackles the problem of inequality without renouncing efficiency”. The speakers also prioritised “taking advantage of natural resources as a catalyst for growth”. Finally, the economists who had gathered in the Pedralbes Palace underscored the idea that “a large consensus is needed among all of the political and social forces in order for the reforms that are carried out to be profound and lasting, and to thus recover institutional credibility”.

The proposals that emerged from the seminar will be delivered to the 16th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and of Government, which will be held in Montevideo (Uruguay) between November 3 and 5.

ELCAC AND CIDOB SIGN A COLLABORATION AGREEMENT

Narcís Serra and José Luis Machinea took advantage of the seminar in the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona to establish a collaboration agreement between the CIDOB Foundation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). They also agreed on the co-publication of Views on Development in Latin America, a book which will compile the lectures presented in the seminar, A New Economic Development Agenda for Latin America, held on October 7 and 8, 2005, in Salamanca, during the first ADI (Latin American Development Agenda) seminar.