Abinader to inaugurate 41st ECLAC session in Santiago

Santo Domingo.- President Luis Abinader will inaugurate the 41st session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on Wednesday, October 7, in Santiago de los Caballeros, bringing together representatives from across the region through October 9.

The biennial United Nations meeting will focus on the economic, social and environmental transformations needed for Latin America and the Caribbean to navigate a changing global geopolitical and economic landscape.

The gathering will include representatives from ECLAC’s 45 member states and 14 associate members, as well as officials from the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector and academia. Participants will review the commission’s work, discuss regional development challenges and establish priorities for the next two years.

Abinader will open the session alongside ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs and Peruvian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Gustavo Lembcke Hoyle. Before the opening ceremony, Vice President Raquel Peña will meet with foreign ministers and heads of delegation attending the forum.

Salazar-Xirinachs will present ECLAC’s position paper, “Managing Transformations in an Era of Disruptions,” which examines the external factors reshaping development and proposes strategies for addressing the region’s challenges through stronger governance, institutions and transformative capacities.

The program will also feature a dialogue of foreign ministers and senior officials, including the presentation of an ECLAC report on geopolitics, globalization and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meeting will also mark the beginning of the Dominican Republic’s presidency of ECLAC, which will run until the next session in 2028. Peru has held the presidency since the commission’s 40th session in Lima in 2024.