Past events

SELA held the “Seminar-Workshop on internationalization of SMEs,” together with the Undersecretariat of MSMEs and Crafts of the Ministry of Industry and Productivity, the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Ecuador and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The Seminar aimed at promoting working methodologies and strategies for the development of programmes that facilitate access of SMEs to international markets; adopting best practices to achieve success in internationalization efforts; promoting the creation of SME export consortiums for the development of export capabilities; and identifying and implementing successful methodologies for the preparation of assessments, which may detect the potential for SMEs to develop their export capabilities, and their limitations and restrictions in order to overcome them.

The “V Regional Meeting on Partnerships between public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean” is being organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), in cooperation with the National Emergency Office (ONEMI) of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security of the Republic of Chile and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). SELA organizes these meetings to promote public-private partnerships for disaster risk reduction, stressing the need to continue supporting coordination and cooperation relations between both sectors with a view to enhancing the capacity of society and its institutions to prevent and respond to disasters. This regional meeting is aimed at national authorities, regional and subregional agencies, international organizations, private sector and other entities related to disaster risk management in Latin America and the Caribbean.

SELA held the International Conference on “Developing Public Policies for Upgrading Productivity in Traditional Small Enterprises”, in collaboration with the National Institute of Entrepreneur (INADEM) of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This event aimed to promote the training and exchange of experiences and best practices on the development of innovation processes, increased competitiveness and productivity in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, present policy instruments for incorporating innovation and increasing productivity in traditional SMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the emerging economies, with a focus on capacity building and management practices, analyze successful programmes for improving productivity and the possibilities of promoting cooperation with a view to transferring these policy instruments to other emerging economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, and reach policy recommendations for increasing productivity in traditional small-sized enterprises, mainly through capacity building and management practices.

The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in collaboration with the Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Competition (CPDC) of the Republic of Honduras, held the VI Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Trade and Competition of Latin America and the Caribbean (WGTC) from 2 to 4 November 2016 in Roatan Island, Honduras. The meeting will focused on two topics: on the one hand, the harmonization of regulatory frameworks in the field of trade and competition in Latin American and Caribbean subregional integration mechanisms; and on the other hand, the treatment of dumping by trade and competition laws.

The  XLII Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA was held in Caracas, Venezuela, at the headquarters of the Permanent Secretariat, on Av. Francisco de Miranda, Torre Europa, Fifth Floor, Simón Bolívar Conference Room, Campo Alegre.  The Preparatory Stage of the XLII Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council was held on 26 and 27 October and the Ministerial Stage took place on 27 October after 15:00 and 28 October.  Final Report

The XXVII Meeting of International Cooperation Directors and entities responsible for science, technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean was organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Government of the Republic of Peru, through the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Council  for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC), with the support of the Pérez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF) of the Group of 77 (G77). This meeting was attended by authorities responsible for international cooperation from the Member States of SELA, national institutions dealing with science and technology, regional and international organizations, regional and subregional integration and cooperation schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean and experts in the field.

SELA held the “VIII Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on Foreign Trade Single Windows: trade facilitation and support of information systems,” in collaboration with the Central Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of El Salvador. This Meeting focused on the support that information systems provide for the implementation of trade facilitation measures, with special emphasis on Foreign Trade Single Windows, as well as the legal, technological, governance and coordination difficulties faced by these processes and the provisions aimed at speeding up and facilitating trade.

The Regional Meeting on the Integration Index for Latin America and the Caribbean is being organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA). The event aims to provide information on the methodology used by SELA and SIECA in order to analyze the degree of integration of the countries in the region. To that end, participants will gain knowledge about the studies on SELA’s“Integration Index for Latin America and the Caribbean,” as well as the advances in the construction of SIECA’s “Regional Central American Economic Integration Index.”

SELA will organize the “Pilot Workshop on adoption of innovation processes in SMEs for young entrepreneurs”, jointly with the Ministry of Economy of Guatemala. This Workshop aims to support the effective promotion of innovation in enterprises; ensure the participation of entrepreneurs in the development of innovation processes to improve competitiveness and productivity in SMEs; present and disseminate successful cases in promoting innovation processes in enterprises; and boost the development of government programmes to support the promotion of innovation. Final Report