José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs is the new head of the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He says the stagnation of the past decade contrasts with the 5.9 per cent annual growth of the 1970s. The average annual economic growth in the decade to 2023 is set to be just 0.8 per cent. ECLAC’s new president, Javier Salazar-Xirinachs, has called for the region to escape economic stagnation by adopting what he calls “productive development”. This means harnessing public and private money to develop high-value-added goods and tech-enabled services in sectors such as medical devices, electric vehicles, green energy and pharmaceuticals.
This was best achieved by creating “clusters” close to universities and research institutes. Latin American countries trade less with each other than any other region, with their economies geared instead to export raw materials to the US, Europe and China. Salazar-Xirinachs wants to see a greater focus on practical measures to facilitate inter-region trade, including trade in services. “The region has been very weak in technical capabilities,” he said.
