The complex international context and profound transformations our economies and societies are experiencing as we start the second quarter of the century, increasingly positions LAC as a region of growing global importance: strategically located between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the region represents the world’s fourth largest economy benefiting from a demographic bonus. It is home to half of the planet’s biodiversity, a quarter of its forests, and a high concentration of the minerals essential to advancing environmental sustainability, economic growth and prosperity for all. 

 This setting provides a unique occasion to take stock of the mutual benefits of OECD-LAC longstanding cooperation and reflect on the role of better policies promoted by the OECD in the future of the region, as some of the largest countries in the region are undergoing an accession process and many others are enhancing their engagement with the Organisation.

In partnership with the Government of Spain, the OECD LAC Regional Programme will convene Ministers of Foreign Affairs from OECD member countries and the LAC region to hold a timely, strategic, Ministerial dialogue, to reflect on the mutual benefit of a revitalised partnership building on the longstanding OECD-LAC cooperation, and the Organisation’s contribution to the present and future of the region.