The Latin American and Caribbean Countries Forum on Sustainable Development met ahead of the July 2022 session of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to assess progress towards the 2030 Agenda in the 33 countries of the region. countries. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which organized the Forum, LAC is the developing region most affected by COVID-19 from a health, economic and social.

The Forum convened in San José, Costa Rica, from March 7-9, 2022. Nearly half of the participants attended in person.

In introductory remarks, Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado said that the “one-dimensional classification criteria” for countries based solely on per capita income leaves out many countries in the world and their most vulnerable populations, in terms of cooperation opportunities with developed partners. He added that the past few years have shown that “we will never be safe unless we save everyone”.

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, said asymmetries have grown between developed and developing countries. Gaps have widened in particular on access to vaccines, access to financial resources and the ability to implement initiatives for economic recovery. She indicated that the Caribbean countries (excluding Cuba and the Dominican Republic) were only able to provide full vaccination for 14.7% of their population.

The annual report on progress towards the 2030 Agenda in the LAC region analyzes these growing asymmetries and presents specific proposals concerning: financing for development; improving the implementation of national and regional policies; strengthen the resilience of institutions; and overcoming conflicts through agreements and pacts.

At the end of the three-day meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica abstract the work and discussions of the Forum. He stressed the importance of:

• access to innovative financing so that countries in the LAC region can recover from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis;
• make the region’s biodiversity visible; and
• aspiring to a new multilateralism that would make sustainable development the first priority and would include the reconfiguration of the international financial architecture.

Participating delegates noted that 28 countries in the LAC region have conducted Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of their implementation of the SDGs and presented them to the HLPF. Eight more LAC countries will do so in the 2022 session – four of which are presenting a second or third review. Forum discussions noted the efforts of these countries to implement the 2030 Agenda by integrating it into their national strategies and adjusting their institutional arrangements.

The result of the fifth forum is a set of Conclusions and Recommendations adopted by the participating delegations. This will feed into the July 2022 session of the HLPF. The document recognizes the entry into force in April 2021 of the Escazú Agreement – the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. It invites the parties to the agreement to the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the agreement (COP1), which will take place from 20 to 22 April 2022 in Santiago, Chile.

The recommendations also call for special dispensation for vulnerable LAC countries regarding credit rating agencies and debt sustainability. They invite ECLAC to continue to collect information on the impact of the loss of access to official development assistance (ODA) and concessional financing on development gains, as countries reach income levels and how the international system and national governments can ensure that the development gains associated with higher income are sustained in countries transitioning to sustainable development.

The LAC forum was part of a series of five regional gatherings for each group of UN member states, in preparation for the HLPF in July 2022. [Forum webpage]