United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Specialized body of the United Nations
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC or ECLAC; Spanish: Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, CEPAL) is a United Nations regional commission to encourage economic cooperation. ECLAC includes 46 member states (20 in Latin America, 13 in the Caribbean and 13 from outside the region), and 14 associate members which are various non-independent territories, associated island countries and a commonwealth in the Caribbean. ECLAC publishes statistics covering the countries of the region and makes cooperative agreements with non-profit institutions. The headquarters of ECLAC is in Santiago, Chile.
ECLAC was established in 1948 as the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA). In 1984, a resolution was passed to include the countries of the Caribbean in the name. It reports to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
01Executive secretaries
| Name | Country | Served |
|---|---|---|
| José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs | Costa Rica | September 2022, |
| Alicia Bárcena Ibarra | Mexico | July 2008, March 2022 |
| José Luis Machinea | Argentina | December 2003, June 2008 |
| José Antonio Ocampo | Colombia | January 1998, August 2003 |
| Gert Rosenthal | Guatemala | January 1988, December 1997 |
| Norberto González | Argentina | March 1985, December 1987 |
| Enrique V. Iglesias | Uruguay | April 1972, February 1985 |
| Carlos Quintana | Mexico | January 1967, March 1972 |
| José Antonio Mayobre | Venezuela | August 1963, December 1966 |
| Raúl Prebisch | Argentina | May 1950, July 1963 |
| Gustavo Martínez Cabañas | Mexico | December 1948, April 1950 |
02Themes and programmes
Implementing Sustainable Development Goals
A mapping of ECLAC's activities to the Sustainable Development Goals (in 2023) shows that its current work emphasizes four SDGs; namely, SDG 17 on partnerships, SDG 8 on decent work, SDG 10 on reduced inequalities, and SDG 16 on peace and justice. In practice, ECLAC strives toward its own regional paradigm, called Global Environmental Keynesianism, which promotes multidimensional equality as the purpose of development. The commission seeks to balance the new SDGs with its earlier focus on equality and to better emphasize the environmental dimension of economic development.
ECLAC has been working on a debt-swap strategy since 2016, titled the Debt for Climate Adaptation Swap and Caribbean Resilience Fund. This fund aims to reduce the debt and fiscal constraints for investment in green industries, stimulate growth, promote economic transformation, and expand fiscal space for public investment such as for the SDGs.
03Locations
- Santiago, Chile (headquarters)
- Mexico City, Mexico (Central American subregional headquarters)
- Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean subregional headquarters)
- Bogotá, Colombia (country office)
- Brasília, Brazil (country office)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina (country office)
- Montevideo, Uruguay (country office)
- Washington, DC, United States of America (liaison office)
04Member states
The following are all member states of ECLAC:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- France
- Germany
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Portugal
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Republic of Korea
- Spain
- Suriname
- Turkey
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Uruguay
- Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
Associate members
The following are all associate members of ECLAC:
- Anguilla
- Aruba
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Curaçao
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Montserrat
- Puerto Rico
- Sint Maarten
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United States Virgin Islands
- French Guiana
Former member states
05Foreign investment
A number of the political governments of the region maintain foreign direct investment promotion agencies in partnership with entities such as the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies. Additionally ECLAC/CEPAL cooperates on regional annual conferences with CAF, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and the bloc overlaps with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States based in Uruguay.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Logo.svg by Andrés Hannach for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Public domain
- Edificio de la CEPAL en Chile - Reflejos 02.jpg by Orly Winer, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Member States.svg by Derivative Work: Jesuiseduardo, CC BY-SA 4.0
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