The online “Seminar: Strategies for the Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery of Latin America and the Caribbean,” organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), was held on Thursday to discuss the best practices for the design of strategies to strengthen economic recovery and cooperation for regional integration.
The Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Clarems Endara, underscored that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are a fundamental component of the business fabric in Latin America, as evidenced by their share in the total number of companies.
The region currently reports around 12.9 million MSMEs, which account for 99% of the total number of companies formally operating, i.e. registered with the tax authorities and liable to pay taxes. SMEs alone generate more than 67% of formal employment, making their existence and sustainability critical for the economic and social development of our countries.
“In this context, it is necessary to generate policies or adopt measures that support the most affected sectors through trade promotion, generation of alternative value chains and creation of spaces that allow for cooperation among subregional integration mechanisms, but with an approach that enables the region to be considered an integrated market,” he highlighted.
In addition, the Permanent Secretary stressed the need to create a work agenda that promotes the regional export supply through the identification of potential export products and the creation of subregional linkages that enable countries to be suppliers and drivers of supply chains to the main global markets, with the aim of generating a platform not only to promote exports but also to strengthen and internationalise SMEs.
“This seminar will be a space for discussing the design of strategies to boost exports, as well as their incorporation into new markets. Through these joint actions that mark the beginning of a joint work, it is intended to develop a work proposal with a regional vision to strengthen and identify the productive capacities and the export supply of our countries,” Ambassador Clarems Endara said.
On behalf of CELAC, the Deputy National Coordinating Minister, Marina Mantecón, highlighted the importance of SELA's work for regional integration. “We have to complement each other in the search for alternative solutions to the regional scenario that Latin America is going through,” she said.
She also stressed that this joint activity between SELA and CELAC marks the beginning of work both at the level of national coordinators and Member States. “As the Presidency Pro Tempore of CELAC, Argentina prepared a work proposal based on 15 axes and with the support of extra-regional organizations and countries; we expect this to be a long road of cooperation between CELAC and SELA.”
One of the objectives of the Presidency Pro Tempore of CELAC has been to work on post-pandemic economic recovery. “This is crucial to be able to make an analysis and evaluate successful and unsuccessful experiences towards the implementation of public policies that can promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises,” Marina Mantecón pointed out.
The online “Seminar: Strategies for the Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery of Latin America and the Caribbean” is the first event of three other seminars linked to the joint work agenda between SELA and CELAC.