At a seminar to mark its 70th anniversary, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted the importance of territories in the region to wholeheartedly adopting evolving tax transparency standards, given the reputational impact on their economies if they are found to be non-compliant.
"This new anniversary gives us the opportunity to revitalize our mission and reaffirm our commitment to the values that underpin our daily work," ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena told the seminar. "Now is the time to grow to be more equal, and be more equal to grow. We must break with the culture of privileges, which is manifested in tax evasion and avoidance as well as in illicit capital flows. Equality strengthens democracy and helps in the provision of public goods."
ECLAC is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded with the purpose of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic ties among countries and with other nations of the world.
The seminar was addressed by the three prior executive secretaries of ECLAC, who served between 1972 and 2008. Enrique Iglesias, who led the organization between 1972 and 1985, noted: "ECLAC was the first institution created to think about development problems in their comprehensiveness, based on direct knowledge of the realities in the countries that it serves."
"Moving toward the future, ECLAC must prepare itself for a new world dominated by technological transformations, climate change, and growing unsatisfied social demands, while also continuing to fight for greater equality, which has been the central theme of this institution throughout its history," he added.
Gert Rosenthal, ECLAC's executive secretary between 1988 and 1997, stressed the need for the organization to adapt to new times and realities. "ECLAC must 'accommodate itself' to these changes and it has the tools to do so," he emphasized.
"Moving toward the future, ECLAC must prepare itself for a new world dominated by technological transformations, climate change, and growing unsatisfied social demands, while also continuing to fight for greater equality, which has been the central theme of this institution throughout its history," he added.
By Courtesy of Lowtax
