For three days, from 26 to 28 August, Montevideo will host the fourth edition of the Regional Forum on Local Economic Development for Latin America and the Caribbean. This event precedes the World Forum on Local Economic Development scheduled to take place in Seville, Spain, in April 2025. The main objective is to stimulate cooperation at the regional level to build more integrated and effective local economic policies.
Montevideo has been selected as the venue for this event due to its world-renowned prestige in terms of sustainable human and economic development policies. For more than three decades, the city has developed a prominent international action on local development issues. The event coincides with the 300th anniversary of Montevideo, celebrating with various activities that look to the past and future of the city.
Under the theme “Territorial alliances and challenges in the economic model of local development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, the forum will address issues such as local development, the environment, global agendas, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the world of work, human mobility, gender equality, innovation, knowledge production, alliances and cooperation.
This meeting will be attended by more than 200 representatives of international, national and local organizations, who will participate in roundtables and panels to share experiences, successful practices and reflections on local development, from inclusive, sustainable and equitable perspectives.
Representatives of subnational governments and city networks, private companies and institutions, research centres and development agents, as well as academies and social organisations will participate in the various activities of the forum. The activities will begin on Monday 26 with a performance by the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra, reserved for invited guests, at the Solís Theatre.
The event will be held at the Montevideo City Hall Conference Center (in the Blue, Red and Gold rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors) on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28, where the sessions will be open to the public upon registration on the event website. The sessions can also be followed online through the live broadcast on TV Ciudad on both days.
The Forum will include 11 panel discussions and three expert-led exchange workshops, and the full agenda of activities can be found on the Forum website.
Featured Participants
Among the 50 invited speakers are Enrique Iglesias, former President of the IDB and the Central Bank and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay; Paco Toajas, representative of the Provincial Council of Seville and Vice President of FAMSI; and Sara Valdes of the Global Alliance for Care. Other notable participants include Alfonso Fernández de Castro of UNDP Uruguay; Marcelo Abdala of PIT-CNT; Diego O’Neill, President of the Federation of Business Chambers of Uruguay; Augusto Costa, Minister of Production, Science and Technological Innovation of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Magdalena Furtado of UN Women for Argentina and Uruguay.
Organizations such as CAF, IDB, UCCI, ICLEI, ILO, ECLAC, IOM, UN Women, Udelar, OPP, ANDE, MIEM, the Ministry of Environment and the Cooperatives of the Americas, together with departmental authorities from Montevideo, Canelones and San José, will also be present at the event.
The forum is supported by entities such as the IDB, CAF, ECLAC, IOM and UN Women, and with the support of the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the International Labour Organization (ILO), ORU – Fogar, the Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV) and the Mercociudades network.
Inclusion and sustainability at the Montevideo economic forum
The event will feature more than 50 panelists, more than 200 participants and representatives from more than 30 organizations and institutions. With the presence of delegations from more than 10 Latin American countries, the forum will be held in two venues: the Conference Center of the Municipality of Montevideo and the Solís Theater.
The Mayor of Montevideo, Mauricio Zunino, highlighted the importance of the forum as an opportunity to exchange experiences and debate public policies that promote social inclusion, equity and sustainability. “Montevideo does not have a homogeneous structure in terms of development,” and therefore it is crucial to address territorial, gender and ethnic-racial inequalities from a local perspective, the mayor added.
