The Secretary General of the United Nations participated remotely in the opening of the ECLAC session, which is being held in Buenos Aires under Argentina's pro-tempore presidency.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, called on Monday (24.10.2022) for more favorable financing conditions and debt relief for the Latin American region as he participated in the opening of the 39th session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). In a pre-recorded message, Guterres indicated that this session was arrived at in a "critical" situation and therefore called for a stimulus plan that would provide "a massive boost" for developing countries.
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| Guterres calls for debt relief and a "massive boost" for Latin America |
Guterres asked the multilateral banks to direct "concessional financing" to developing countries so that these funds "reach all the countries that need them", pointing out the "too many obstacles" that island and other middle-income countries face in accessing financing.
He also called for "relief mechanisms" for developing countries suffering from over-indebtedness, debt reduction mechanisms with "debt swaps for climate adaptation projects" and that the criteria for granting loans should also include the dimensions of "vulnerability" affecting the countries. He also called for an "increase in the liquidity" of multilateral lending agencies.
ECLAC's most important biennial meeting -where it will present its proposal for the reactivation and transformation of the development model in the region and Argentina assumes the pro tempore presidency of the organization for the period 2022-2024- is taking place at the Kirchner Cultural Center in Buenos Aires and will end next Wednesday.
"Argentina, in its capacity as pro tempore presidency, invites you to work on a structured agenda based on dialogue, to strengthen ties between the countries of the region and to position ourselves differently with the rest of the world," said the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, when inaugurating the session. Among other authorities present were the Argentine Foreign Minister, Santiago Cafiero; his Costa Rican counterpart, Arnoldo André Tinoco, as outgoing president of the organization; and the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.