The main objective is to analyze the progress and challenges in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, inaugurated this Monday, March 7, in San José the Fifth Forum of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, together with the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, and the Executive Secretary of ECLAC Alicia Barcena.
Costa Rica hosts this event in its capacity as Pro Tempore Presidency of ECLAC for the 2020-2022 period. The forum, which will last until March 9, is attended by 33 member states of ECLAC and high-ranking representatives of international organizations and the United Nations.
The main objective of the activity is to analyze the progress and challenges in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and provide countries with useful opportunities for peer learning, the exchange of good practices and the discussion of common goals.
In his initial speech, President Alvarado highlighted the imperative of peace as the only means of enabling progress and development of populations. “Due attention to matters of such importance as economic recovery, the fight against climate change and attention to health needs, within the framework of respect for human rights, must continue to be the priority lines of action of our governments," he emphasized.
"There is only one brave route and the brave route is peace," Alvarado exclaimed, noting that "the worst security threat in the world remains man-made destruction, not just the immediate and devastating destruction of the terror of war. , but also the silent destruction of hunger and shortages and the irrational exploitation of our natural habitat, which produces climate change and the loss of biodiversity and ignores the human right to a healthy, clean and sustainable environment”, he stressed.
During the ECLAC President Pro Tempore, Costa Rica has advanced a series of important issues for the region in areas such as innovative financing mechanisms to enable a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery of the region; as well as the need to change the qualification standards of the countries in transition, whose access to financing and international cooperation is limited due to their classification as middle-income and upper-middle-income countries.
The Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, indicated that the president of Costa Rica has been an example of multilateralism not only for what has been done on the world stage, but also for what has been done in the country from the response to COVID-19 to actions on climate change.
For her part, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, affirmed that the region can generate greater development with a focus on equality, social justice, sustainability, democracy and peace, and stressed that “we are in the country that has decided not to have an army, that is to have a commitment”.
The chancellor, Rodolfo Solano, was in charge of moderating the session in the exercise of the Presidency of the Forum where President Alvarado announced the decoration of the Juan Mora Fernández National Order in the degree of Grand Cross Silver Plate, to the Executive Secretary of ECLAC for their work, dedication and struggle in the region.
“A decade of action for a change of era”
The Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, presented the report “A decade of action for a change of era” – Fifth report on the progress and regional challenges of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Said report addresses the growing asymmetries between developed and developing countries, economic, social and political effects, the role of the state, among others, and concludes that 68% of the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) continue in a insufficient trend towards 2030; nearly a third of these are on trajectories away from their target.