Santiago, May 20, 2014.- Secretary-General Angel Gurría will open the Second Europe-Latin America Economic Forum in Paris today 20 May at 9:30 a.m. He will be joined in the opening panel by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, and the Director of the Paris School of Economics, Pierre-Yves Geoffard.

The two-day event, co-organised with the ECLAC and the Paris School of Economics, aims to encourage dialogue on the development challenges facing Europe and Latin America.

The Forum (which is fully open to media) will feature panel discussions on the range of macroeconomic policy, labour market, regional integration, income inequality and inclusive growth challenges facing the two regions. (See full agenda here).

Mr Gurría will deliver a keynote speech around the key theme of the Forum, «Europe and Latin America in an ever-changing global economy”.

This year’s event will build on policy debate from the first Forum held in January 2013, in Santiago, Chile, which was organised by ECLAC and the Paris School of Economics as a side event of the First Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the European Union (CELAC-EU).