introduction
Considering the expectations arising from these activities for interinstitutional complementarity and cohesion among participants and due to the growing interest in further expanding partnerships, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA is organizing the Seminar “Closing gaps in Latin American integration processes”. The aim of this event is to provide support tools for the design of public policies that prioritize the analysis and use of methodologies associated with the search for convergence and reduction of asymmetries between relatively more and less developed countries.
The Permanent Secretariat has invited various experts and speakers to participate in four working sessions, in which they will present the initiatives for regional convergence that are based on the existence of economic asymmetries, in order to enhance progress in some of the dimensions of integration whose treatment is still incipient. In addition, participants will review several studies on gaps, with special emphasis on social disparities and the efforts by the various regional players in designing public policies to address such disparities.
Background
Technical coordination among institutions, geographical dispersion of governmental organizations and asymmetries among member countries of integration mechanisms are some of the aspects that must be addressed in order to promote the regional integration process. Faced with these difficulties, various technical teams have come to the conclusion that the meeting of the minds and the establishment of agreements on regional policies related to specific areas of activity is the most effective mechanism for overcoming these challenges and the pillar for the promotion of convergence among the countries in the region.
In this connection, the role of multilateral organizations is essential for the promotion and exchange of best practices that provide alternatives for the reduction of barriers to trade, facilitate the factor mobility and generate new cross-sectoral investment agreements. Thus, the Permanent Secretariat, committed to the efforts of regional cooperation, has convened various institutions that promote the Latin American and Caribbean integration with the aim of monitoring integration processes and trying to align regional, technical and political agencies in the pursuit of common objectives, such as, for example, the coordination and design of actions in the economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions, among others.
In this context, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA organized the Seminar on Prospective vision of Latin American and Caribbean integration, held in Mexico City on 6 and 7 March 2018. In addition, based on the conclusions arising from the Seminar on Assessment of the Latin American integration process, held in Montevideo on 7 May 2019, a diagnosis of the integration processes was made with a view to identifying new work strategies around issues of growing regional interest. Then, a group of regional specialists was created with the purpose of designing an agenda for monitoring and updating the integration process, which would be disseminated by means of institutional meetings and publications about the actions provided for by the various organizations that promote integration.
Considering the expectations arising from these activities for interinstitutional complementarity and cohesion among participants and due to the growing interest in further expanding partnerships, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA is organizing the Seminar Closing gaps in Latin American integration processes. The aim of this event is to provide support tools for the design of public policies, with particular emphasis on the analysis and use of methodologies associated with the search for convergence and reduction of asymmetries between relatively more and less developed countries.
The seminar has been structured in four working sessions, in which initiatives for regional convergence will be presented and economic asymmetries will be identified in order to enhance progress in some of the dimensions of integration whose treatment is still incipient. In this context, an analysis of the gaps will be made, with special emphasis on social disparities, and a description will be provided of the efforts by the various regional players in designing public policies to address such disparities.
The conduction of this seminar is part of the efforts by the Permanent Secretariat of SELA in fostering interinstitutional cooperation and consensus about the design of regional public policies for overcoming intra-regional asymmetries and the search for greater convergence in Latin American and Caribbean integration processes.
Objectives
- Identify and analyze the main gaps in regional integration processes;
- Review the various existing forms of convergence; and
- Provide support tools for the design of public policies related to the regional integration process.
Agenda
Logistics
Participants
Participation in this event is subject to the invitations forwarded by the co-sponsors. This activity is aimed at regional organizations that promote integration, focal points for integration, government representatives of the Member States of SELA and experts in the field.
Information on migration
For information on migration to enter the Argentine Republic, please visit the following Web page:
http://www.migraciones.gov.ar/accesible/indexD.php
Contacts
At the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)
- Virginia Cartaya
Director of Studies and Proposals
Tel.: +58 212 955.71.53
E-mail: vcartaya@sela.org
- Leonardo Martínez
Analyst of Studies and Proposals
Tel.: +58 212 955.71.39
E-mail: lmartinez@sela.org
- Magaly Medina
Executive Secretary
Tel.: +58 212 955.71.21
E-mail: mmedina@sela.org
At the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL)
- Belisario de Azevedo
Tel. +54 11 4323-2385
E-mail: belisariod@iadb.org
