Chile completes its presidency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
At the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Chile completed its presidency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the period July 2023 - July 2024, a position held by the Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, Ambassador Paula Narváez.
ECOSOC is one of the main bodies of the UN, was established in 1945 and functions as a space for coordination, political dialogue, policy review, and recommendations on economic, social and development issues. It is also the body that actively monitors the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda (SDGs).
During its presidency, Chile was able to promote transversal priority areas such as the inclusion of a gender perspective, the defense of human rights, a territorial approach in the discussions, as well as the participation of civil society. The above, with the role of strengthening ECOSOC's policy orientation in an international context of multiple crises.
Among the main milestones of the Chilean presidency were the organization of the Special Meeting on the Future of Work held in Santiago in January 2024, the Special Meeting on Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the SDGs, the Forum on the Follow-up of Financing for Development to advance towards an ambitious reform of the international financial architecture, the Multistakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals and the ECOSOC Youth Forum. Also of particular note was the first Ecosoc Meeting on Care and Support Systems, which aimed to highlight the often invisible contribution of care and support systems to the well-being of our societies.
Chile's presidency of Ecosoc responded to our country's multilateral diplomatic tradition since the establishment of the United Nations, and also to Chile's commitment to a rules-based global order and effective multilateralism that contributes to the well-being of our societies, within which the achievement of the SDGs occupies a central place.
Chile has been a member of this body on 12 occasions (1946-1947, 1958-1960, 1964-1966, 1972-1974, 1980-1982, 1991-1999, 2002-2004, 2010-2012, 2016-2018 and 2022 - 2024) and will complete its current membership in December 2024.
Likewise, Chile assumed the presidency for the fifth time in 2023, with Ambassador Paula Narváez being the first Chilean woman to do so. Previously, it had held the Ecosoc presidency twice under Ambassador Hernán Santa Cruz in 1950 and 1951, and twice under Ambassador Juan Somavía in 1993 and 1998.
