SANTIAGO, CMC – The United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with central offices located in Santiago, Chile, is celebrating 75 years since its creation with a “commitment to continue working for a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future for the region.”

ECLAC was established by a resolution of the United Nations Economic and Social Council on February, 25 1948 and began work in Santiago that same year.

Later, in 1984, the council decided that its name would be changed to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations.

In a video message on Saturday, ECLAC Executive Secretary, Costa Rican economist José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, noted that “we have reason to celebrate because the commission’s contribution to the theory and practice of economic and social development in the region over the past seven and a half decades has been widely recognized in the region and throughout the world.”

“Over the years, ECLAC has updated its thinking in accordance with changing realities, creating roadmaps and shedding abundant light on the options and priorities for the progress of our nations,” Salazar-Xirinachs.

On Saturday, the regional commission launched a website that provides an overview of its origins, the evolution of its thinking and current institutional priorities.

“As we commemorate these 75 years, we begin a new phase in which we will carry out a series of activities that will allow us not only to celebrate our 75th anniversary but also to strengthen our abilities to continue our work and better serve Latin America and the Caribbean to build a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future,” said Salazar-Xirinachs, who took on his role on October 3, 2022.

ECLAC said it was founded to contribute to the economic development of Latin America, coordinate actions aimed at promoting this development and strengthen the economic relations between countries in the region and other nations around the world. Later, its work was expanded to the countries in the Caribbean.

In addition to its main headquarters in Santiago, ECLAC has two sub-regional sites, one for the Central American subregion located in Mexico City and the other for the Caribbean subregion in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, established in June 1951 and December 1966, respectively.

ELCAC also has national offices in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo and Bogota, as well as a liaison office in Washington, DC.

The 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are members of ECLAC, along with some nations in North America, Europe and Asia, which maintain historical, economic and cultural ties with the region.

In total, ECLAC said there are 46 member-states and 14 associate members, a legal status granted to some non-independent territories in the Caribbean.