The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), hosted in its headquarters in Santiago (Chile) the meeting of the executive secretaries of the five UN regional commissions (RCs), to discuss the position of regional commissions within cooperation and regional integration. The executive secretaries discussed the position of the Regional Commissions in the framework of the implementation of the High Level Panel on system-wide Coherence.

 

The participants discussed as well the preparation for the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) to be held in July 2007 in Geneva. It was an occasion for the executive secretaries to exchange their views on their participation in the side-event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be held in July as part of ECOSOC. The meeting constituted an occasion for the participants to plan for their upcoming meetings with senior UN government and UN officials.

 

The seminar was opened by Mr. Jose Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Mr. Alejandro Foxley, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile. The Executive Secretaries of the regional commissions for Europe, Asia/Pacific and Africa, and the Secretary of the Commission for Western Asia, delivered presentations as follows: Mr. Marek Belka Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) on Social cohesion in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on Trade and financial integration in Asia: The role of public-private partnerships, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), on Biofuel technologies and potential for cooperation between Africa and South America and Mr. Khaled G. Abdel Hamid, Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) on Regional partnership for peace, stability and development. The Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) delivered a presentation on its knowledge management strategy in order to adopt a common platform for knowledge management.

 

Special guests and commentators participated in the public discussions such as Mr. Carlos Furche, Director General of International Economic Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile; Mr. Graziano da Silva, Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Mr. Juan Emilio Cheyre, of the Center for International Studies, Catholic University of Chile, and many other representatives of international agencies as well as academia active in Santiago.

 

It is worth mentioning that the meeting of the executive secretaries was held in ECLAC headquarters as it is the present coordinator of the Regional Commissions, while ECA will assume the role of coordinator for the Regional Commissions as of 1^st July 2007.