ECLAC proposes strengthening scientific research and academia

Mexico City. Strengthening scientific research and academia to promote economic and social development is a pending issue on the agenda of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), teachers from the region agreed.

“What we have to advance is to strengthen the creation of an academy committed to the social dynamics of transformation,” declared Yesenia Olaya Requene, minister of science, technology and innovation of Colombia.

At today’s first meeting of the Fortieth period of sessions of ECLAC held in Lima, Peru, Olaya pointed out that there is a distance between the scientific and the political and that governments must seek to ensure that academia and the generation of scientific knowledge have an impact on development. politician of the States.

“Why has the construction of knowledge and scientific training in a large part of Latin American countries, and I am talking about Colombia, been behind the development of the nation? We have to review these training policies, but also analyze how the neoliberal system itself has brought about distancing processes in scientific communities based on the processes and dynamics of publishing articles,” he mentioned.

“We found an academy committed to publication, but with due articulation that the knowledge that is generated from the financing of research projects – many with public resources from the State – has a real impact on transforming living conditions of the communities,” he added.

For his part, José Antonio Ocampo, professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, invited ECLAC to carry out a specific analysis to create a research and development network. He referred to the European regional research network, which is made up of research from research centers in several countries.

In the second session, focused on how to achieve high, sustained and inclusive growth, a representative of the Korean delegation – a region that has been a member of ECLAC since 2007 – said that there has been mutual understanding and support with Latin America for 60 years.

“Korea will continue to work for development and sharing our technology to achieve a brighter future for both regions,” he commented.

“I want to emphasize the trust that Colombia has for Latin America. “Korea is ready to support Latin America and the Caribbean region to achieve higher, sustained and sustainable development, and I look forward to continuing our mutual cooperation,” he mentioned.

Meanwhile, the representative of the United States delegation explained that his country’s mission is to promote economic opportunities and guide the sustainable development goals for 2030, which are to achieve social justice.

“Today, unfortunately, global crises have a very profound impact on the ability to achieve the development we want, and we want to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable way, for this we have to follow a more inclusive model of development, to be able to leverage the labor and all the skills,” he explained.

He stated that the United States seeks resilient and inclusive economic growth that must be translated into trade policies, and that inclusion helps accelerate sustainable growth by improving the productivity of marginalized groups.