The heads of Industry and Commerce of Ibero-America opened a two-day meeting in Santo Domingo on Wednesday with a call for regional integration and cooperation amid global uncertainty after the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and high levels of inflation.
When inaugurating the meeting, the Ibero-American assistant secretary, the Brazilian Marcos Pinta Gama, stressed the “urgency” of addressing “a fairer industrial and commercial development that supports regional integration and cooperation” in the midst of the current global situation.
The region, he said, “is eager for bold and transformative policies that offer realistic and pragmatic solutions to its acute shortcomings and economic, social and environmental gaps.”
However, the goal “cannot only be to mitigate the damage of the pandemic and reactivate the economy” but “to confront poverty, informality, inflation and the educational blackout.”
“It is about the countries of the region moving forward, getting out of the middle income trap and fulfilling the legitimate dream of being socially inclusive countries based on dynamic, sustainable and inclusive growth,” he said.
For his part, the Dominican Minister of Industry and Commerce, Víctor Bisonó, stressed “the commitment to work together for the consolidation and revitalization of the economies of our countries.”
At the meeting, issues related to economic productive transformation after the pandemic and the internationalization of the service sector as a development opportunity will be discussed, he said.
Likewise, innovation and digital transformation in industries, internationalization of knowledge-based services, gender vision and inclusion for productive development and promotion of electronic commerce in industrial sectors and Mipymes (micro, small and medium-sized companies) will be discussed.
The meeting is part of the activities prior to the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held on March 24 and 25 in Santo Domingo.