A number of personalities will participate during the inauguration, such as Samantha Marshall, from the Health and Environment portfolio of Antigua and Barbuda; Javiera Toro, Minister of Social Development of Chile; Linda Maguire, regional director of the UN Development Program (UNDP); José Manuel Salazar Xirinachs, executive secretary of ECLAC, among others.

Representatives of governments, institutions and members of civil society will also participate in the conference, which will last three days, during which, discussions addressing issues related to the central theme of the meeting will be held in five panels.

Financing of universal social protection systems is on the schedule so as also the improvement of capacities in Development ministries, comprehensive information systems, and cooperation in these times of multiple simultaneous crises.

In addition, Salazar-Xirinachs will present the document entitled “Social Institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: central axis to advance inclusive development”.

The conference was created in May 2014 as a subsidiary body of ECLAC. Its objectives include promoting the improvement of local policies on the subject and encouraging international, regional, and bilateral cooperation.

The mechanism is also tasked with examining multidimensional poverty and advancing the measurement of inequality and structural gaps.

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