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Latin American officials and United Nations experts gathered here on Thursday to explore ways to make development financing more effective in building equitable and just societies.
The Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a UN agency, said participants of the two-day gathering would study proposals to promote "sustainable development with equality," through changes in the way financing is allocated and distributed.
"It is necessary to rethink the international financial architecture and put inclusion at the center of the new post-2015 (UN-backed) development agenda," ECLAC said in a press release.
Latin America is the world's most unequal region in terms of income distribution.
The global conference will offer a "unique opportunity to address the challenges of ... deploying effective financing at all income levels," ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena said at the opening of the meeting.
"Especially in Latin America we must advance toward equality, transforming our productive structure in an environmentally sustainable way," Barcena said.
ECLAC is set to present participants the results of a study on the role of traditional sources of financing for development in Latin America, especially official development assistance and foreign direct investment, as well as countries' domestic resources and the importance of tackling tax evasion and illicit funds.
The meeting was inaugurated by Heraldo Munoz, Chile's minister of foreign affairs, and Wu Hongbo, UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs.
The meeting is taking place in the lead up to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development to be held in July in Addis Ababa, where heads of state and top officials from the international community are expected to negotiate an intergovernmental accord for implementing the post-2015 development agenda, including financing for development and ways to close the commercial, financial and technological gaps between developed and developing countries, said ECLAC.
