Santiago, 28 April 2023 – Finance experts, economists, and civil society representatives all called for more government and private sector support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to avoid a lost decade of development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The experts gathered Thursday in Santiago, Chile, at the UN DESA Global Policy Dialogue on “Financing an Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Transition,” focused on the region. 

The event highlighted key messages of UN DESA’s Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023 and addressed the specific regional challenges and opportunities in reducing debt and scaling up investment and development cooperation.

“Industrialization and structural transformation have been historic engines of economic growth and productivity growth, but at the same time we know that…they have a mixed record and cases of successes and failures,” said Shari Spiegel, Chief of the Policy Analysis and Development Branch in the Financing for Sustainable Development Office at UN DESA. “So, the idea is to think about what a new generation of industrial policies would look like that are sustainable, that are supportive of decent jobs, and to learn from the past.”

Stephany Griffith-Jones, a member of the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Chile, said in Spanish that policymakers in the region urgently must support “a more inclusive development model, that is to say, more egalitarian with participation from more lower-income groups,” and considerations for the environment. “All of this productive transformation requires a massive, massive investment, and we’re facing low levels of investment in Latin America,” Griffith-Jones added. 

Other speakers included Esteban Perez Caldentey, Senior Economic Affairs Officer in the Economic Development Division at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC); Ruth Spencer, Chair of the Marine Ecosystems Protected Areas Trust in Antigua and Barbuda; Sebastián Arias Monsalve, Acceleration Director at Start-Up Chile; and Marcela Browne, Head of Education at Fundación SES in Argentina. 

The event took place on the sidelines of the Forum of Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development 2023, held at UN ECLAC headquarters. The dialogue was made possible by the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund. 


Watch the event here in original language (English and Spanish).