![\"Se](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/se_mexico_canciller_1_675.webp\")
<\/div>\nThe Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will hold its most important biennial meeting in Mexico City from May 23 to May 27, 2016, where officials will present to its 45 member countries a report on recent activities and will offer governments a reflection upon development strategies in the context of the commitments contained in the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Foreign Minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and ECLAC\u2019s Executive Secretary, Alicia B\u00e1rcena, signed the agreement today through which Mexico becomes the venue for the Thirty-sixth session of this United Nations organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our country it is very important to host ECLAC\u2019s session and receive representatives from throughout the region to discuss issues of development and equality, especially of gender,\u201d Ruiz Massieu affirmed.<\/p>\n
B\u00e1rcena indicated that in this session participants will debate the region\u2019s economic, social and environmental development based on a position document written by ECLAC, in light of the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. This document continues along the same path as the \u201ctrilogy of equality\u201d presented by the Commission in its three previous meetings (2010, 2012 and 2014).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep equality at the center of our proposals and with a gender approach in which the role of Latin American and Caribbean women is made more visible in the agenda of the SDGs,\u201d said the United Nations official. \u201cAs a Mexican woman, it is an honor that this meeting be held in my country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Executive Secretary also met with President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, whom she thanked for the invitation that Mexico\u2019s government made to ECLAC to host the session. She also expressed her appreciation to him, since he will be the person to kick off the work of this regional UN commission\u2019s highest governing body.<\/p>\n
During her visit B\u00e1rcena met as well with the most senior authorities of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), accompanied on both occasions by Antonio Prado, ECLAC\u2019s Deputy Executive Secretary, and the Director of the Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, Hugo Beteta.<\/p>\n
At the UNAM, Rector Enrique Graue and Secretary-General Leonardo Lomel\u00ed agreed to jointly publish with ECLAC a series of studies about Latin American development, while also drafting a joint proposal for a possible oceanographic expedition between the Antarctic and the whale sanctuary in the Gulf of California in the framework of Pacific Alliance cooperation. Both sides also proposed reinforcing academic exchanges and scholarships for Latin American students.<\/p>\n
B\u00e1rcena also met with Julio Santaella, President of the INEGI, and with Vice Presidents F\u00e9lix V\u00e9lez and Rolando Ocampo. The Institute currently presides the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC (SCA-ECLAC) and will participate actively in the upcoming session. The officials agreed that the INEGI will present its experiences regarding South-South cooperation, the Caribbean and Central America, gender statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the relationship between statistics and geography in its studies.<\/p>\n
The senior United Nations official will finalize her official activities in Mexico tomorrow, Saturday, February 13, upon participating in the reception that the Mexican State will offer to Pope Francis in the National Palace.<\/p>\n