SELA undertakes restructuring; invigorates work programme

On 1 December 2021, a new stage kicked off at the Latin American Economic System (SELA). All its 25 Member States gave their blessing to implement the Work Program 2022-2026 and restructure the organization in keeping with the country needs and in response to the urgent concerns faced in the region so that ordinary people can perceive the benefits.

Among the decisions made in the Regular Meeting of the XLVII Latin American Council of SELA, Ambassador Clarems Endara, the Permanent Secretary, referred to the passage of the restructuring project as a peremptory need due to the crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He mentioned that the most recent restructuring occurred in April 2003 under Decision 440. “Obviously, there is a different reality 18 years later; the priorities and challenges of international organisations must fit in the needs of their Member States, their technical and financial ability to become a real and tangible input in the tasks and principles entrusted by the Panama Convention.”

Ambassador Endara clarified that the proposed changes are meant to conceive future work programmes of SELA as an annotated agenda, “driven towards the obtention of measurable, useful and concrete results, in order to address promptly the needs of Member States.”

He explained that, as part of the restructuring of SELA a multi-annual agenda has been implemented to empower Latin American and Caribbean nations, dodge the economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19, improve resilience and focus on topics able to give novel institutional options for better public policies and the best practices.

“Hence, the Permanent Secretariat triggered a consultation mechanism in form of survey among Member States and held working meetings for a more accurate operation,” Ambassador Endara said.

The consultation, he reported, was useful to outline three thematic areas, namely, economic recovery, digitalization and social development. All the three of them aim at specific goals to attain the objectives established in their relevant programmes.

The Permanent Secretary thanked the governments of the Member States of SELA for their confidence and vowed to return the inter-government organization to the highest ranks of qualification and excellence. “But particularly, of our peoples, which claim increasing attention from these international entities, which are just the extension of their highest interests, represented in the desires for further and better integration.”

Ambassador Endara hailed the interest and responsiveness as to the joint and sustained work conducted during the first four months of his incumbency, which has produced a roadmap that captures the region’s concerns.

In the Regular Meeting of the XLVII Latin American Council of SELA a new steering committee was designated by consensus for the next sessions of 2022. Mexico was re-elected as the chair of the Executive Council and Cuba was chosen as rapporteur. In addition, Argentina was elected for the first deputy chair and Guyana will act as the second deputy chair.